Financial Assistance for Registered Fishermen Society

What is Financial Assistance for Registered Fishermen Society?

Financial Assistance for Registered Fishermen Society is a state scheme of the Directorate of Fisheries, Government of Goa. It appears in the Directorate's consolidated list of fisheries schemes as scheme number 17 among the state schemes, and it is one of the few in that list whose beneficiary is an institution rather than an individual fisherman.

Through the scheme, fisheries co-operative societies and associations registered with the Fisheries Co-operative Societies, and having more than 25 members, become eligible for financial assistance towards their functioning. The Directorate describes the benefit as grant-in-aid, and the amount is fixed rather than proportionate.

The purpose is institutional strength. Goa's fishing economy runs through hundreds of small societies and associations in coastal and riverine villages that hold the membership registers, run the auctions, and act as the point of contact between individual fishermen and the department. Those bodies need to keep proper books and employ at least one person to do so, and this scheme puts money behind that.

Who is eligible for this financial assistance?

A society or association can apply if:

• It is a fishermen's society or association registered under the Co-operative Societies Act.
• It is registered with the Fisheries Co-operative Societies.
• It has more than 25 members. The Directorate states this as the specific threshold for availing the benefit.
• It produces an audited statement of accounts.
• It employs at least one person for the maintenance of records.
• It agrees to produce its books of accounts before departmental authorities for inspection when called for.

An applicant is not eligible if:

• It has 25 members or fewer.
• It is an unregistered group, however active. Registration under the Co-operative Societies Act is the gateway condition.
• It cannot produce an audited statement of accounts for the last year.
• It employs nobody to maintain records, since that is an express condition.

Individual fishermen cannot apply under this scheme. The Directorate runs a substantial separate set of individual schemes, described below.

How much does the scheme pay?

The Directorate of Fisheries states the quantum plainly: all fishermen societies and associations registered under the Co-operative Societies Act "shall be eligible for Financial Assistance to the extent of Rs. 50,000/- as Grant-in-aid".

Two things follow. First, this is a flat grant, not a percentage of the society's expenditure, unlike the Directorate of Art and Culture's grants or most subsidy schemes in the state. Second, no separate category grid applies, a society with 30 members and one with 300 are on the same published figure.

Like every scheme in the Directorate's list, releases in a given year are subject to the department's budget provision.

How to apply for Financial Assistance for Registered Fishermen Society

1. Obtain the prescribed application form from the Directorate of Fisheries, Dayanand Bandodkar Marg, Patto Colony, Panaji, Goa. The Directorate's scheme table lists "Application in prescribed form" as the first required document.
2. Attach the registration certificate of the society or association under the Co-operative Societies Act, showing registration with the Fisheries Co-operative Societies.
3. Attach the bye laws of the society.
4. Attach the membership details of the society or association, which must establish that membership exceeds 25.
5. Attach the audit statement of the last year. The Directorate requires an audited statement of accounts, so the society's audit must be current before the application is filed.
6. Attach the ECS mandate form so that the grant-in-aid can be credited electronically to the society's bank account.
7. Submit the complete application to the Directorate of Fisheries and keep an acknowledgement.

Because the benefit is a grant-in-aid to an institution, the application is signed by the society's authorised office bearers, not by a member in a personal capacity.

What documents does the Directorate ask for?

Why applications get rejected

• Membership at or below 25. The threshold is "more than 25 members", so a society of exactly 25 does not qualify.
• No audited statement of accounts, or an audit that is several years out of date.
• No record-keeping employee. The Directorate lists this as a condition, not a recommendation.
• Registration lapsed under the Co-operative Societies Act, or no registration with the Fisheries Co-operative Societies.
• Membership details that do not match the bye laws or the audited accounts.
• Missing ECS mandate, which stalls the release even where the claim is otherwise sound.
• Refusal or failure to produce books when the department asks for inspection.

What obligations continue after the grant?

Two conditions in the scheme are ongoing rather than one-time. The society must continue to employ at least one personnel for the maintenance of records, and its books of accounts shall be produced before departmental authorities for inspection when called for. A society that takes the grant and lets its books lapse is in breach of the terms on which the money was given.

Keeping the audit current also protects the society's position under other schemes and under the Co-operative Societies Act itself.

How this fits with Goa's other fisheries schemes

The Directorate of Fisheries runs a long list of state schemes, almost all of them paying individual fishermen rather than societies. Reading them together helps a society advise its own members:

• Financial assistance for construction or purchase of a wooden or FRP fishing vessel (canoe) to 50% of the actual cost limited to Rs 60,000 for the general category and Rs 80,000 for SC/ST applicants.
• Financial assistance to purchase or construct a new fishing craft of less than 26 feet for fishing in inland waters — 50% subsidy limited to Rs 30,000 on a unit cost of Rs 60,000 excluding GST for the general category, with a higher rate for SC/ST and women applicants.
• Financial assistance to fishermen for the purchase of outboard motors and engines, with specific provisions for SC/ST applicants and for fisheries co-operative societies and associations.
• Financial assistance for the purchase of fisheries requisites, of life jackets and lifebuoys, and of fuel for the operation of fishing vessels.
• Natural calamity relief to fishermen of the state.
• Aquaculture, mussel culture and crab farming assistance, several of which name societies and associations among the eligible applicants alongside individuals and groups.
• Ornamental fish unit assistance and the VAT-based subsidy on HSD oil consumed by fishing vessels.

Several of those individual schemes list fisheries co-operative societies and associations as eligible applicants in their own right, so a society should read the Directorate's full scheme table rather than assume this is the only route open to it.

Where to get help

• Directorate of Fisheries, Government of Goa, Dayanand Bandodkar Marg, Patto Colony, Panaji, Goa 403521
• Telephone: 0832-2224838
• Website: fisheries.goa.gov.in, with the department page on goa.gov.in
• Scheme list: the consolidated table of fisheries schemes, with quantum, eligibility and documents for each, is published as "Different Schemes - Fisheries" on goa.gov.in

There is no fee to apply, and the grant is credited electronically to the society's own bank account through the ECS mandate, so no intermediary handles the money.

How to check your application status

This scheme has no online application-status tracker. Because it runs offline through a physical application submitted to the Directorate of Fisheries, a society has to follow up through the same office rather than a portal login or SMS system.

1. Keep the acknowledgement from submission. When the application is handed in at the Directorate of Fisheries, Dayanand Bandodkar Marg, Patto Colony, Panaji, ask for a dated acknowledgement or a diary/inward number. That number is what the office will ask for when a society calls to check progress.
2. Call the Directorate on 0832-2224838 and quote the inward number, the society's registration number, and the date of submission. Fisheries offices process a relatively small volume of institutional grant applications compared to individual fishermen's schemes, so a phone enquiry with the file reference usually gets a direct answer on whether the file is under scrutiny, referred back for a missing document, or cleared for sanction.
3. Visit the Directorate in person if the phone line does not resolve the query. Since the applicant is a registered society, it is reasonable for an office bearer named in the application to ask the section handling co-operative society grants directly, rather than relying only on a phone call.
4. Watch for a deficiency memo. If the audited statement, membership list, or ECS mandate has a gap, the Directorate typically holds the file and expects the society to supply the missing paper rather than rejecting outright. A society that has not heard back within a few weeks of submission should check specifically whether such a memo was issued and simply not received.
5. Track the ECS credit once sanctioned. Because the grant-in-aid of Rs 50,000 is paid electronically to the society's bank account through the ECS mandate filed with the application, the clearest sign of final approval is the credit itself appearing in the society's bank statement, not a separate status letter.

There is no email address or web form published specifically for status queries on this scheme, so the telephone number and an in-person visit to the Directorate remain the only reliable channels.