The rain spell, which has been continuing non-stop for the past one week, has brought a ray of hope among fishermen that it will increase their yield.
Hit by low catch during the voyages after end of annual conservation period in June, mechanised boat operators say that though the torrential rains have dampened their spirit, absence of adverse wind has not affected their schedules.
None of the fishermen has curtailed his voyage as the fisheries authorities refrained from issuing any warning.
A fisheries official told The Hindu on Tuesday that the rain spell would help the fishermen in getting good catch.
Favourable factors
Change in climate and dip in temperature of water and stability in wind direction will always help the fishermen in getting bumper catch.
“We do face problems in continuing our voyage when rain and wind hit us, making us difficult to manoeuvre our vessels. Now there is absolutely no problem,” said Dolphin Boat Operators’ Welfare Association president Ch. Satyanarayana Murthy.
At present, 70 per cent of 600-odd mechanised boats have not gone for voyage following low returns post-bifurcation. Steep increase in diesel cost has an adverse impact on them. Those who ventured into the sea could not get enough to meet their operational cost.
“The situation is deplorable,” A.P. Mechanised Boat Operators’ Welfare Association president P.Ch. Appa Rao said.
The boat operators invested heavily, mostly borrowing loans from private lenders, for overhauling their vessels during the ban period pinning high hopes of big catch. Failure to get high-value fish like prawns, vanjiram, and pomfret dampened their spirit.
Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour Workers’ Union general secretary J.D. Naidu said that the workers were also hit due to not so encouraging season, and hoped that the current spell of rain would fetch better catch in the coming days.
