Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma has said that a boat-building yard will be constructed near the twin harbours of Neendakara and Sakthikulangara.
She was inaugurating the trial run of fibre fishing boats, a joint venture of Matsyafed and Yamaha Motor Company, here on Friday. The boats being rolled out as part of the project will be 30 feet long with two engines and fibre was opted taking into account various safety parameters.
Owning boats
The Minister said Joint Liability Groups will be formed among fishers, helping them to own boats.
“An announcement regarding this will be made in the budget. All the group members simultaneously repaying the loan will make the process easy and they will be able to own the craft at the earliest. Since government will take care of the interest, the fishers will not be burdened with any extra liability,” she said. The Minister added that the department will soon set up modern crane facilities to load the trucks along with storage systems in all harbours.
Matsyafed chairman P.P.Chitaranjan presided over the function while Yamaha representatives Suzuki Shigenori, Koyanagi, Neendakara village panchayat president S.Sethulakshmi and Matsyafed managing director Lawrence Harold also spoke on the occasion.
