PALK BAY SCHEME: EXPLAINED

PALK BAY SCHEME: EXPLAINED

Context:

The Government of India is considering increasing the unit cost of deep-sea fishing vessels under the Palk Bay scheme to make it attractive to fisherfolk.

About the Palk Bay Scheme:

• It was launched in July 2017 under the Blue Revolution programme.
• It is financed by the Union and the State Governments with beneficiary participation.
• It is a Tamil Nadu-specific scheme.
• The funding pattern of the scheme is State 20%, Centre 50%, Institutional funding 10% and Beneficiary 20%.
• It is limited to vessels costing up to Rs. 80 Lakh.

Significance of the Scheme:

• It is aimed at providing 2,000 vessels in 3 years to fishermen of the State and motivating them to abandon bottom trawling.
• An ecologically destructive practice, bottom trawling, involves trawlers dragging weighted nets along the seafloor, causing great depletion of aquatic resources.
• Another goal of the scheme is to “reduce fishing pressure” around the proximity of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) so that Tamil Nadu fishermen do not cross the IMBL and fish in Sri Lankan waters.