As the fishermen row between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan fishermen is worsening and deep sea fishing is seen as the solution, the state government has come out with a proposal of starting deep sea fishing training centres in Tuticorin and Thoothoor in Kanyakumari district by Tamil Nadu Fisheries University (TNFU). The announcement was made in the assembly when grants for fisheries sector was discussed on Tuesday. Trawl fishing – the technology introduced under Indo-Norwegian agreement in late 60s – in order to modernise fishing sector has caused adverse impact on marine wealth as fishermen complain that fish stock has greatly reduced in the seas. The technology, termed as destructive fishing practice also turned a bone of contention between Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen with former accusing the latter of destroying their marine wealth and an amicable solution could not be derived in bilateral talks. On July 6, Sri Lankan government amended its Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act banning trawling in Sri Lankan waters further worsening the situation. With more thrust on taking up another modernisation in fishing sector and move fishermen towards deep sea fishing, the government on May 23 issued an order proposing to convert trawl boats operating in Palk Waters into deep sea fishing vessels at a cost of Rs 80 lakh each. The government has proposed to convert 500 trawlers into deep sea fishing (tuna liner and gill netter) in 2017-18, another 500 in 2018-19 and 1,000 more trawlers by 2019-20 with assistance from the central government. In the first phase, trawl boats in Rameswaram region were to be converted into deep sea vessels. However, deep sea fishing requires different skill set altogether as most of the trawlers don’t navigate beyond 200 to 300 nautical miles and fishermen are not exposed to deep sea. In Tamil Nadu, deep sea fishing is practised in few pockets namely Thoothoor in Kanyakumari coast, Taruvaikulam in Tuticorin and Nagapattinam. With special focus on Rameswaram, it becomes even more imperative to train the fishermen of the region since two-thirds of them don’t belong to traditional fishing communities and migrated from inland to coast for a livelihood. Under these circumstances, the government has come out with the announcement of setting up deep sea fishing training technical centres at Tuticorin and Thoothoor for Rs 3.82 crore. Vice-chancellor of TNFU, S Felix said the shore lab facility of the university inside Tuticorin fishing harbour will be converted as the training centre. The university will try to set up infrastructure to teach communication and navigation in deep seas, fishing methods and other necessary skills. On-board training will be given using deep sea fishing vessels of Thoothoor fishermen for which the centre will be utilised. “We are going to finalise on infrastructure and curriculum, course duration and other modalities. We will come up with the centre in two to three months,” the VC said.