Having just entered the 45-day fishing ban period, Tamil Nadu is holding a consultation meeting with fishermen from all 13 coastal districts of the State to discuss extending the ban period to 61 days. This is based on the recommendation given by an expert committee to ensure sustainable fishing, which has already been implemented by all coastal States except Tamil Nadu, Union Territory of Puducherry and Kerala. The experts researched and analysed the situation, and suggested extending the ban period to 61 days, which is the optimum period to ensure that breeding is not disturbed. This is important to ensure sustainability of the resources and thus the livelihood of thousands from the fishing community, a senior official told Express. Before the state-level consultation meeting that is being held in Chennai on Tuesday, fisheries minister D Jayakumar directed officials to organise micro level meetings within the community in the coastal districts so that they could discuss the matter among themselves before the meeting with senior fisheries department officials. During these smaller meetings, the fishermen seem to be more or less agreeable to extending the ban period because it is basically a matter of sustaining the livelihood. If they are on board, there is a possibility to extend the ban period to 61 days this season itself. But we need to wait till the consultation meeting to conclude to decide on this, said the official. The move came after the recommendation from a team of scientists who were part of a panel formed by the Centre in May 2013 with the director of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, as the chairman. It recommended fishing ban in eastern coast from April 15 to June 14, and from June 1 to July 31 on the western coast.