Acute staff shortage cripples Fisheries Department

The Fisheries Department in Karaikal is grappling with severe shortage of personnel, with several key posts lying vacant, resulting in delays in service delivery and reduced institutional support to nearly 3,000 fishing families dependent on the sector for their livelihood.

Official sources said the department was functioning with 17 staff members against a sanctioned strength of 49, including field-level personnel. Karaikal district had 10 fishing hamlets spread along a 24-km coastal belt and the skeletal workforce struggled to manage both administrative responsibilities and field duties.

At present, the department had only two Fisheries Inspectors and one Sub-Inspector, while an Inspector and a Sub-Inspector post remained vacant. In addition, only two cooperative staff were available, and most of the existing workforce was engaged in clerical functions.

A senior fisheries official said the limited staff were handling nearly 10 State schemes and over 18 Central schemes, forcing many officials to juggle paperwork and fieldwork simultaneously. “Officials are doing both desk work and ground-level responsibilities. There is no dedicated research and development wing.”

Officials also pointed out that unlike neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where the Sagar Mitra initiative deployed a multipurpose worker in every fishing hamlet, the scheme had not been implemented in Puducherry. Under the programme, a local fisherman was engaged as a community-level resource person with a monthly honorarium of ₹15,000. The absence of the scheme in Karaikal had not only added to the workload of existing staff but also denied employment opportunities to local fishermen.

The department did not have a separate enforcement wing, with enforcement responsibilities being handled as an additional charge by existing officials. Vacancies were particularly acute among field-level staff, including technical posts such as boat fishing overseers, despite Karaikal having around 270 mechanised fishing boats.

The officials said the same limited team was also overseeing major initiatives such as expansion of the Karaikal fishing harbour, further stretching resources.

A senior official noted that there had been no recruitment in the department since 2006.

A senior official in the district administration said that repeated proposals seeking additional posts and recruitment had been sent to the Puducherry government. “Both the department and the district administration have forwarded proposals. We are awaiting sanction of posts.”