MSC pre-assessment made public 

Participants confirmed 

Updated 2022 workplan 

Workplan made public 

The Tamil Nadu government continues to enforce penalties for rule violations; the Ramanathapuram district reported 163 violations but no vessels affiliated with the UoA were implicated.

The FIP held a managers workshop to discuss the action planning and to introduce Ocean Outcomes to the larger group.

The FIP has continued to collect catch data over the past 5 months for the stock assessment from 10 sampling sites on secondary species in the BSC gillnet fishery. The study identified the sandfish (Holothuria scabra) and the three-spot seahorse (Hippocampus trimaculatus) as ETP species.

The FIP conducted several outreach meetings at four fishing centers to raise awareness about the proper use of gear, avoiding the fishing of berried crabs, refraining from shallow water fishing, and adhering to the minimum legal size requirements.

The Tamil Nadu government continues to enforce penalties for rule violations; the Ramanathapuram district reported 590 violations but no vessels affiliated with the UoA were implicated.

The FIP continues to collect data on a monthly basis on the occurrence of berried female and their carapace width (cw) and wet weight (g) from nine BSC landing centers; the data demonstrates that most of the crabs landed are above the prescribed minimum cw of 90 mm. 

The FIP participated in the annual meeting of the Crab Meat Association (CMPA); participants at the meeting agreed to conduct a seagrass survey in the Tanjore district.

The FIP has entered into a MoU with Tamil Nadu Fisheries University in an effort to partner on stock assessment studies. 

The FIP continues to collect and record data on the berried female crab on a monthly basis; data from three of the landing centers have been made available from Jan 2023- April 2023 and demonstrate that the majority of the crabs landed are above the minimum weight (CW).

The FIP is participating in a seagrass restoration campaign; outreach materials are being circulated and local workshops are being conducted for the community

The FIP continues to collect data on non-target species from bottom gillnets; analysis on non-target species composition is pending. 

Turtle release efforts are underway in the Palk Bay Dugong Conservation Reserve

 The Tamil Nadu State government enforcement division has increased enforcement efforts and issuing sanctions

The FIP continues to collect data on the berried female; data from June 2022- October 2022 has been made available 

The Department of Fisheries, Tamil Nadu is vigilant and is imposing penalties and fines on vessels without license.

The FIP continues to collect data on a monthly basis on the berried female; data from November 2021- April 2022 is available

FIP conducted training on best practices to release juvenile and berried crabs

Village level committee meeting minutes and district level meeting minutes have been made available

Landing data analysis from fishing trips conducted in November 2021. 

Tamil Nadu Government is still in the process of strengthening its Marine Enforcement wing; newly formed enforcement wing now has officers in all districts. 

Outreach posters were desiged by CMPA in local language to create awareness among crab processors

The percentage of crabs landed below Minimum Legal Size (MLS) was 5.64% and 6.23% respectively during 2020 and 2021

A comprehensive study was conducted by OMCAR foundation on marine mamma stranding (with a focus on dugongs) along Northern Pal Bay from 2009 to 2020.

CMPA has written letters to concerned authorities of Ramanathapuram, Nagapattinam and Trichy for details of fishing craft registration

Data collection continues to build maps detailing habitats and potential fishery impacts

The catch composition of BSGN and other fishing gears operated in the Palk bay region has been assessed in the Project area

Majority of the BSC fishing villages follow the proposed mesh size (90-110mm) as recommended in the BSC management Plan

All villages involved in crab fishing have a monitoring system to stop capture of juveniles and berried crab

Decision on optimum fleet size of gillnetters by the scientists of CMFRI for Tamil Nadu to increase  the current fleet size of 2571 netters by 26%

FIP continues to collect data on a monthly basis in the format suggested by CMFRI

All BSC fishing crafts are registered with the district level State Fisheries Department and are being monitored by the enforcement wing

The FIP  has sent letters to Marine Police Department to help in incidents of sea-cow (Dugong) poaching/catching in the area.

Increase to PI 2.3.3; The FIP has conducted a RBF of ETP species. Out of the five species identified as ETP, the spotted seahorse and the longnose seahorse scored above 80, the dugong scored between 60-79 and the sandfish and slender bamboo shark scored below 60.

The Tamil Nadu government has created a dugong conservation area in the Palk Bay.

Increase in BMT score 3.1.2; The Government of Tamil Nadu has formed a four tier Co-Management Council to manage Marine Fisheries sector which is now functional

Increase in BMT score 1.2.4; Stock assessment completed