Sea change in fishing pattern

CHENNAI: Fishing pattern in the state is undergoing a change due to the rise in power plants in the coastal areas, untreated effluents let out into the sea and climate change, according to Thanga Prakasam, chief engineer of fisheries department. Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on Tamil Nadu State Environment Policy, Prakasam told Express on Thursday that there has been a rapid rise in the migration of fish species due to a rise in temperature in the water currents due to power plants and untreated effluents.“Certain power plants discharge water at high temperature and this causes mortality to fish. Fisheries should be empowered to have control on the letting out of water from power plants and major industries,” Prakasam said.The chief engineer of the fisheries department also said that this would have a serious impact on the fishing stock in coming days and would change the fishing pattern. Currently, the fish production in the state during 2010-11 was 4.04 lakh tonnes and accounted for 13.03 per cent of national fish production.He also highlighted the need to protect the interest of fishermen of Ramanathapuram district in Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve and Pulicat in Thiruvallur district like that of the Sunderbans region in West Bengal under the Environment Protection Act 1986.Prakasam also highlighted the need to empower fisheries department to analyse the quality of water discharged in estuaries to protect the inland fishing stock.