Vembar fish landing centre near Thoothukudi to get more facilities

The coastal hamlet of Vembar, situated about 30 km from Thoothukudi, with 100 country boats and 50 mechanised boats, will soon get new facilities at the Fish Landing Centre and the places around it, District Collector K. Senthil Raj has said.

The Vembar Fish Landing Centre, which was created in 2018 at an outlay of ₹10.50 crore under the NABARD Scheme, has a 164-meter-long ‘T’-shaped jetty where the mechanised boats, which are involved in ‘day fishing’, are berthed. A fish auction centre, fishnet mending centre and an approach road were created when the fish landing centre was established for the benefit of 50 mechanised boats. Apart from the mechanised boats, 100 country boats also engage in ‘day fishing’ from Vembar to feed around 1,000 families.

Dr. Senthil Raj, who inspected the fish landing centre on Monday, said the approach road would be re-laid as the vehicles coming to Vembar to take fish had to manoeuvre on a badly-damaged stretch. Since the number of mechanised boats operating from Vembar has touched 50, the fishermen appealed to the Collector to extend the fish landing centre and the groyne as well, as the boats suffer damage whenever heavy wind lashes this region.

The fishermen also requested the Collector to widen the approach road so that the lorries with refrigeration facilities could reach the fish landing centre easily and asked him to install high-mast lights at three places along the road leading to the beach and also at the fish landing centre.

‘The fishermen’s demands will be fulfilled,’ Dr. Senthil Raj said after the inspection.

Joint Director of Fisheries R. Amal Xavier, Assistant Director of Fisheries T. Vijayaraghavan, Executive Engineer, Department of Fisheries, Gangadharan and NABARD District Development Manager Suresh Ramalingam accompanied the Collector.