In andhra pradesh, most of the Gangaputras depend on fisheries for their livelihood. They live on the sea shores and catch fish and sell them to support their families. Such fishermen are still suffering from hardship or inadequate livelihood. They are stuck in the net of problems. Gangaputras are in a situation where they cannot eat even a single meal no matter how hard they work.
Andhra Pradesh has the longest coastline in the country after the state of Gujarat. It has a total coastline of 975 km. Around 20 lakh fishermen live on this coast. Such fishermen are caught in many problems and are thrashing like stranded fish. Natural calamities, pollution from factories, lack of fishing harbors, lack of cold storage rooms, lack of proper marketing, health problems, etc. surrounded them.
Besides, if you go two to three kilometers in the past, you would find plenty of fish. But in the present time, if they go to the western parts of Odisha, they are not finding fish. The main reason for this is that most of the fishes die due to the waste from the factories in the coastal areas, which either die or go inland, forcing them to go far to fish. Apart from that, it is said that the cost burden has also increased due to the increase in the rates of diesel used in boats. In this way, they say that nothing more than 200 is left from what they have earned throughout the day, how can they support their families.
How to protect the fishermen?
Fishermen have to work hard and go to the coasts for kilometers to catch fish, and there is a lot of difficulty in selling them. The foreign market has not yet fully recovered from the Corona disaster. Due to this, the fish has to be sold in the domestic market. The price varies according to what the brokers say.
Fishermen are losing their hard-caught fish in the hands of brokers. The government should tighten the broker system. Besides, fishing harbors or fishermen are facing many difficulties in coastal areas. In the places where the boats are parked, sand dunes are completely formed and the boat needs to be moved forward. Therefore, the fishermen say that if fishing harbors are established, the difficulties will be solved. Also, it does not matter if the caught fish are sold any day, but if they are not sold, they must perish.
They also want to construct cold storages so that even if it is not sold that day, it can be sold the next day. Also, fishing stops for a few months during calamities. It is informed that the government should provide assistance to them even at this time. Fishermen also want the government to provide full subsidies for the purchase of boats and boats. It is said that if the governments provide support to the fishermen in this way, the fisheries of andhra pradesh will definitely be improved.