Mangaluru : The state government has announced 61-day annual deep-sea fishing ban from June 1 to July 31, to facilitate breeding of fish.

Deputy Director of Fisheries department Harish Kumar said mechanised boats and traditional boats fitted with inboard or outboard engines of 10 hp and above are banned from fishing during the period. The traditional fishing boats fitted with less than 10 hp engines are allowed to carry out the fishing, he added.

Action will be taken against those who violate the ban under Karnataka Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1986, and they will not be eligible for subsidised diesel for one year. The authorities have appealed to the stakeholders to cooperate keeping in mind the interests of fisheries sector.

Monsoon is the breeding season for fish which lay eggs along the coast during the season. Thus most of the fish are likely to be caught easily in nets.

The reckless fishing during monsoon will adversely affect fish catch once the fishing season resumes.

Last fishing season was not good for the fishermen. Due to Okhi, Kyarr and Maha cyclones, fishermen lost several days of fishing. Further, the lockdown announced to check the spread of Covid-19, led to early ending of the fishing season.

Though fishing season had commenced on August 1 in 2019, owing to the protest by the fish meal industries, the fishermen incurred a huge loss.

Owing to the Covid-19 lockdown, the fishing was banned. Though fishermen were allowed to carry out traditional fishing in the month of April, the poor catch affected the sector.

Further, labourers engaged in fishing started returning to their states from April 26. More than 150 buses had ferried labourers from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other states to their respective states.

The Shramik special trains also helped the the stranded fishermen labourers from Odisha and Jharkhand to return to their native places.

Fishemen leaders said that number of boats too have increased which meant that the available fish would be shared among the boats. The vagaries of nature and the lockdown have delt severe blow to the fisheries sector.

Compared to last nine years, the fish catch in Dakshina Kannada was more in 2019-20. Till March, 1,71,692 tonnes of fish were caught.