Parliament Question: Fishermen affected by extreme weather conditions in coastal areas

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 564 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4th FEBRUARY, 2026 Fishermen affected by extreme weather conditions in coastal areas 564. Shri Jose K. Mani: Will the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has data regarding the number of fishermen affected by extreme weather conditions in India's coastal areas during the past three years; (b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise; (c) the compensation and rehabilitation measures provided to such affected fishing communities; (d) whether there is a mechanism to provide early weather alerts and disaster training to fishermen; and (e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH (a) to (c) : Management and Regulation of Marine Fisheries upto 12 nautical miles from coastline fall under the jurisdiction of the respective coastal State Governments and Union Territories. Some of the State/UT Governments namely Lakshadweep and Karnataka have reported that no major incidents occurred in their State/UT during the last three years and the State of Goa has not reported any such incident. The Government of Kerala reported that due to extremely severe low pressure cyclones in April, May, July and August, 2022, a total number of 1,66,756 marine and allied fishermen families were affected. The State Government further reported that during 2025 May 18th to 31st, 1,72,160 fisher and allied families were affected by the extreme weather warning. The Government of Andhra Pradesh reported the data of fishermen affected due to extreme weather events including cyclones and the data reported includes 1091 fishers affected due to Michaung in 2023 and (ii) 978 fishers affected due to Montha in 2025. The Government of Tamil Nadu has reported 1183 fishermen affected due to Mandous cyclone in 2022-23, 20342 fishermen affected due to Michaung cyclone in 2023-24 and 1519 fishermen due to Fengal cyclone in 2024-25. Details of compensation provided as reported by some of the coastal State Governments are furnished at Annexure-I.(d) and (e): The Department of Fisheries, Government of India under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) has approved a project namely National Rollout Plan for Vessel Communication and Support System (VCSS) and this project aims to install indigenously developed transponders on 1 lakh marine fishing vessels, covering mechanized and motorized boats across all 13 coastal States and Union Territories, with a total outlay of ₹364 crore. The project is being implemented through the New Space India Limited (NSIL) with technical support from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The transponders are provided free of cost to fishermen, following a 60:40 funding pattern between the Centre and States, and 100% central funding for Union Territories. So far a total 46,000 transponders have been installed in Coastal State/UTs on fishing vessels. The key features of the transponders include (i) facilitate two-way communication system enabling fishermen to send short messages using Android mobile phones while operating up to 200 nautical miles, covering the entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), (ii) Real-time weather alerts, including cyclone and disaster warnings, along with safe route navigation, (iii) Maritime Boundary Line (MBL) alerts to prevent unintentional transgression into foreign waters, (iv) Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) information provided through the NABHMITRA mobile application, (v) Multilingual access to all services through the National Fisheries Application – NABHMITRA, ensuring ease of use for fishermen. In addition, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is also providing various ocean-based early warning services to marine fishermen. The key services provided by INCOIS include (i) early warning advisories on tsunami, storm-surge, high-waves, high-currents and swell surges routinely, (ii) supports search and rescue operations, and provide forecasts on oil-spill trajectories as well as small- vessel advisories, (iii) marine heatwave information, and various other ocean services for a wide range of coastal user communities, (iv) issues Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) advisories to assist fishermen in identifying areas of likely fish abundance, thereby saving time, fuel, and effort while enhancing their safety at sea.These services are delivered using real-time observations, high-resolution models, machine-learning based analytics, and advanced dissemination platforms to support disaster preparedness and response across all coastal States and UTs. *****Annexure-I Statement referred to in reply to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No.564 for answer on 4th February, 2026 put in by Shri Jose K. Mani, Hon’ble Member of Parliament regarding Fishermen affected by extreme weather conditions in coastal areas State/UT-wise details of the compensation and rehabilitation measures provided to fishermen affected by extreme weather conditions in coastal areas 1. Tamil Nadu Relief amount provided from the funds of the State Government to fishers for the past three years Year Special allowance to Savings cum relief Savings cum relief fishermen families scheme for fishermen scheme for fisherwomen No. of fishers Relief No. of Relief No. of Relief amount fishers amount fishers amount provided provided provided (Rs. in (Rs. in (Rs. in lakhs) lakhs) lakhs) 2022-23 186049 11163.00 205491 6143.00 20652 6170.00 2023-24 175737 10544.00 197746 5925.00 195696 5865.00 2024-25 173726 10423.00 200881 6008.00 196463 5877.00 Relief amount provided through SDRF to the fishermen whose fishing boats are damaged due to cyclones/heavy rainfall occurred during the past three years S.No. Mandous Cyclone Michaung Cyclone Fengal Cyclone (2022-23) (2023-24) (2024-25) No. of fishers Relief No. of Relief No. of Relief affected amount fishers amount fishers amount provided affected provided affected provided (Rs. in (Rs. in (Rs. in lakhs) lakhs) lakhs) 1 1183 467.00 20342 2719.00 1519 251.00 2. Andhra Pradesh Compensation and rehabilitation measure provided to affected fishermen during the last three years S.No. Year Cyclone name Number of Compensation fishermen provided (Rs. affected in lakhs) 1 2023 Michaung 1091 40.32 2 2024 No notable cyclone impact 0 0 3 2025 Montha 978 78.53 *****