Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Krishna Raj has reviewed the progress of deep sea fishing project, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on July 27 and interacted with fishermen beneficiaries. Ms. Raj, who was on a day’s visit to the district to take part in Swachhta Hi Seva’ campaign, interacted with the beneficiaries at an event organised by the Tamil Nadu Fisheries department at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) near here on Sunday. The beneficiaries, who were given work orders to construct the Tuna long liner trawlers under the blue revolution scheme and were new to the project, expressed varied concerns right from fishing method to marketing and the Minister was receptive to their concerns. Fishermen were given subsidy by the Central and State governments to construct long liners, each costing Rs. 80 lakh, she said and appealed to them to make use of the project. While the Centre offered 50% subsidy per trawler, the State offered 20% and helped them to mobilise another 20% from financial institutions and the beneficiaries have to contribute Rs. 8 lakh per boat, she said. The Centre and State governments had unveiled the project to prevent fishermen from trespassing’ into Sri Lankan waters while fishing in Palk Bay. The project aimed at diversifying 2,000 trawlers from Palk Bay into deep sea Tuna long liner-cum-gill netter boats in a phased manner over a period of three years. Officials explained that the response to the project was good and about 350 fishermen have so far applied for the long liners. The project was aimed at finding a permanent solution to the fishermen issue in the Palk Bay, they said. The Centre has allocated Rs. 200 crore and the State Rs. 86 crore towards subsidy for 500 fishermen to switch over to deep sea fishing in the first phase during 2017-18, they said. The interaction was coordinated by Fisheries Director V. P. Dhandapani and Additional Director G. S. Sameeran.