3 min readGandhinagarMar 30, 2025 10:32 PM IST
First published on: Mar 30, 2025 at 10:32 PM IST
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Gujarat Assembly has recommended the Fisheries Department to promote adherence to the rule related to colour codes for fishing boats while creating awareness about the same by acquiring the confidence of fishermen. Under the provisions of the Fisheries Act, 2003, the rooftop of a fishing boat’s wheel house has to be orange, with the registration number of the boat in black font so that it is visible during an aerial survey.
The recommendation by the committee — headed by BJP MLA and former minister Jitendra Vaghani — to the Fisheries Department was made in one of its reports, tabled before the state Assembly recently.
The latest PAC report notes, “Under the provisions of Gujarat Fisheries Act, 2003, one of the rules-conditions to get license for fishing is to colour the rooftop of Wheelhouse of a boat with orange colour and to write the boat’s registration number in black over it so that the boat could be identified while fishing in aerial survey.”
The recommendation has come with reference to a report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India of 2011-12. “During the audit (in 2011-12), it came to the notice of the AG (Auditor General) that out of the total 22000 licensed fishing boats only 6675 boats had adopted this colour code. The AG had also taken note that no strict actions were taken by the regional offices to impose the colour code and token for the fishing were being given regularly despite violation of the provisions of colour coding,” the report adds.
The report took note of a clarification, dated September 19, 2024, by the Fisheries Department that stated that the Fisheries Commissioner had instructed district offices not to let fishing boats, which have not implemented the colour code, go for fishing. The PAC also held a meeting on October 1, 2024, that was attended by a representative from the Fisheries Department.
As per the PAC report, “The representative (of Fisheries Department) informed that currently strict implementation of colour coding is on. Moreover, in case of violation of the rules, action is being taken to the extent of cancellation of the fishing license of the boat.”
The PAC has also recommended fixing (pls remove) creating awareness in a time-bound manner.
A senior officer of the Fisheries Department said that currently, all the 26,828 registered fishing boats in Gujarat are following the colour-coding rule under the Gujarat Fisheries Act, 2003. “The rule is being strictly implemented and if some boat is found to be violating the same then its license is being cancelled immediately,” the officer said.
As per the PAC report, “The representative (of Fisheries Department) informed that currently strict implementation of colour coding is on" (Express Archive) 
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