Centre urges T.N. fishermen to take to deep sea fishing The Hindu dated 9th May 2017

In the interest of finding a lasting solution to the fishermen issue, the Centre would give an impetus to deep sea fishing and mariculture, said Union Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries secretary Devendra Chaudhry. On a two-day visit to the district on Thursday, he made it clear to fishermen during an interaction that the problem could be sorted out only if they took to deep sea fishing and went in for alternative livelihood such as cage farming and seaweed cultivation in a big way. Pointing out that sea cage farming was being done only by few fishermen in the Gulf of Mannar, he suggested that mariculture could be taken up on a large scale both in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay with assistance from State and Central governments