Fishing Ban Period Assistance under the Welfare and Relief for Fishermen During Lean Seasons and Natural Calamities Scheme, Puducherry

What is the Fishing Ban Period Assistance in Puducherry?

Fishing Ban Period Assistance is one component of the Welfare and Relief for Fishermen during Lean Seasons and Natural Calamities Scheme, run by the Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare, Government of Puducherry. The component compensates marine fishermen families for the income they lose during the annual fishing ban that protects fish stocks during the breeding season.

The current rates come from G.O. Ms. No.12/FY dated 28 March 2025, which amended the 2023 scheme. Under that notification:

• Rs 4,000 per fishermen family where the fishing ban runs for 47 days;
• Rs 8,000 per fishermen family where the fishing ban runs for 61 days.

Both amounts are paid through ECS, the electronic clearing service, directly into the family's bank account. The same amendment also raised lean season assistance to Rs 6,000 per fishermen family during the monsoon season or a natural calamity.

The department describes the objective of the parent scheme as rendering "the welfare oriented basic needs of the Fishermen Community" and releasing financial assistance to families affected by loss of livelihood. The fishing ban component serves a second purpose as well: by paying families during the ban, the government makes it realistic for them to respect the ban and allows fishery wealth to regenerate.

The scheme covers all four regions of the Union Territory: Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, each with its own departmental office.

Who is eligible for the fishing ban relief in Puducherry?

You can receive the assistance if:

• You belong to a marine fishermen family of the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• You are a resident of Puducherry by birth or domicile, the standard residence condition across the department's fishermen welfare schemes.
• You are a member of a fishermen co-operative society, through which the department compiles beneficiary lists.
• You hold a fisher identity card issued by the department. Bio-metric identity cards are issued to marine fishers of the Union Territory under the department's state plan scheme.
• You have an active bank account capable of receiving an ECS credit.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• Your family is not a registered fishermen family of Puducherry.
• You are resident outside the Union Territory and only fish in Puducherry waters seasonally.
• You are a fish trader, exporter or boat financier who does not go to sea and is not dependent on fishing for a livelihood.
• Your co-operative society membership has lapsed and your name therefore does not appear on the list forwarded to the department.
• Another member of the same family has already been counted for the same ban period. The assistance is per family, not per person, so a household draws it once.

What documents are required?

How to apply for fishing ban period assistance in Puducherry

1. Register as a fisher with the department and obtain the bio-metric fisher identity card if you do not already hold one. Registration of fishing crafts is handled online under the ReAL Craft programme, and fisher registration is handled at the departmental office.
2. Join or renew membership of your local fishermen co-operative society. The department compiles the ban relief beneficiary list through the societies, so this is the practical entry point.
3. Give your bank account details and Aadhaar number to the society for inclusion in the list, and confirm the account is active and correctly seeded. The 2025 notification pays only through ECS.
4. Check the draft beneficiary list before the ban period begins. Societies normally display or read out the list; this is the moment to correct a missing name, not after the payment run.
5. Submit the application form for ban relief at the office of the Project Officer or Deputy Director of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare for the Puducherry region, or the Deputy Director in Karaikal and the Assistant Director in Mahe or Yanam.
6. Wait for the ECS credit once the ban period ends and the department releases the sanctioned amount.

How much is paid and when?

Payment follows the ban rather than preceding it, and is released once the department's list is finalised and the sanction issued for the year. The department's press coverage of past disbursements confirms that the ban and lean relief together are paid out in large annual tranches to registered fishermen families across the Union Territory.

The ban relief sits alongside the other components of the same scheme, so a single family may receive more than one benefit in a year:

• Lean Season Assistance — Rs 6,000 per family during the monsoon or a natural calamity.
• Natural calamity relief, free rice and clothing distributed by the department.
• Old age pension to fishermen who have attained 50 years of age.
• Immediate relief to families of fishermen who die or go missing at sea.

How do I check whether my ban relief has been credited?

1. Ask your fishermen co-operative society whether your name appeared on the final list forwarded to the department for that ban period.
2. Check your bank account passbook or SMS alerts for an ECS credit around the period following the ban.
3. If nothing has arrived, contact the Deputy Director of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare for your region with your fisher identity card number.
4. Ask specifically whether the ECS transaction was returned, which happens when an account is dormant, closed or wrongly recorded.

Why fishing ban relief claims fail

• Name missing from the society list. The list, not an individual application, drives the payment.
• Lapsed co-operative society membership.
• Fisher identity card not renewed or never obtained.
• Bank account dormant, closed or with a wrong IFSC, so the ECS credit bounces.
• Aadhaar not seeded with the bank account.
• Duplicate entries within one household, which the department removes since the assistance is per family.
• Residence condition not satisfied because the applicant is not a Puducherry resident by birth or domicile.

Most of these are fixable before the next ban period, which is why checking the draft list in advance matters far more than complaining after payment.

Where do I complain if the relief is not paid?

• Director, Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare, Puducherry: +91-9442234784, email fish[dot]pon[at]nic[dot]in.
• Karaikal: the Deputy Director of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare, Beach Road, Karaikal.
• Mahe and Yanam: the Assistant Director of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare for the region.
• Your fishermen co-operative society, which is the first place to correct a list error.

There is no fee for registration as a fisher, for society membership renewal at the department's counter, or for a ban relief claim. Nobody is authorised to charge for adding a name to the beneficiary list.