Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri Parshottam Rupala and Minister of State Dr L Murugan will jointly launch Sagar Parikrama Phase-VIII on 31^st August in Thengapattanam Fishing harbour in Kanyakumari district. This phase of Sagar Parikrama will be covering four coastal districts of Tamil Nadu including Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Ramanathapuram.

The Tamil Nadu leg of Sagar Parikrama will begin on the 31^st and will end on the second of September with the foundation laying stone of the Integrated Seaweed Park at Valamavur in Thondi, Ramanathapuram district. A Tamil song on Sagar Parikrama will also be launched during the event.

Sagar Parikrama Yatra is an outreach program intended to reach out fisher community across the coastal belt. The initiative has been launched to better understand the issues, experiences, and aspirations of fishermen, as well as to examine the scope of seafood exports and popularise programs available to fishermen in coastal areas.

Union Fisheries Ministers Shri Purushottam Rupala along with Minister of State Dr L. Murugan along with the State fisheries Department Tamilnadu, District officials and Senior officials from Department of Fisheries, Government of India and from State Government, National Fisheries Development Board, Indian Coast Guard, Fishery Survey of India, National Institute of Fisheries Post Harvest Technology and Training, Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical & Engineering Training and fishermen will participate in the Sagar Parikrama awareness campaign for three days.

Fishermen representatives, fish-farmers, entrepreneurs, fishermen cooperative society leaders, professionals, scientists, and other stakeholders in the four districts of Tamil Nadu will participate in the events.

Tamil Nadu has 1,076 km long coastline, which is the second largest in the country. The state is enriched with marine, brackish water and inland fisheries resources amenable for capture and culture fisheries. Marine fish production (2021-22) of the State stood at 5.95 lakh MT, of which 1.14 lakh MT, valued at Rs.6,559.64 crore was exported. The fisheries industry supports the livelihood of 10.48 lakh marine fishers through 5,830 mechanised and 45,685 traditional fishing crafts which are actively engaged in fishing and 4,41,977 marine fisherfolk enrolled in Tamil Nadu Fishermen welfare Board.

The rich fisheries biodiversity of Tamil Nadu provides livelihood opportunities to more than a million people directly and in the ancillary activities. During the year 2021-22, the sector’s contribution to the State agriculture GDP is 5.78%. The State’s contribution from fisheries sector in the foreign exchange is Rs.6,559.64 crore by exporting 1.14 lakh metric tonnes of fish and fishery products during the year 2021-22.

During the Sagar Parikrama journey across four coastal district of Tamil Nadu, Certificates/sanctions relating to the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF), Kisan Credit Card (KCC), and State Schemes shall be distributed to progressive fishermen, particularly coastal fishermen and fish farmers, young fisheries entrepreneurs. Literature on the PMMSY scheme, State schemes, e-shram, FIDF, KCC, will be widely disseminated through print media, electronic media, videos, and a digital campaign using jingles among fishermen to promote the schemes for their awareness and benefits.

The first seven phases of Sagar Parikrama has covered 3600 km in 8 Western Coastal states/UTs including Gujarat, Diu & Daman, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, and Andaman & Nicobar. The journey signifies an evolutionary initiative of the Government of India demonstrating solidarity with fisher folk, fish farmers, and other concerned stakeholders across the coastal belt. Aiming to resolve the challenges faced by the fishing community and facilitate their economic upliftment through various fisheries schemes and programs implemented by the government, such as the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and to disseminate information about various fisheries related schemes and programs, promoting responsible fisheries with a focus on sustainable balance, and protection of marine ecosystems.

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SK/SM