Chennai’s fishing harbour at Kasimedu, beside the port in Royapuram, is getting a ₹99.85 crore modernisation through Chennai Port. Official papers show how it is funded, how far it had got by late 2024, and the state fishery it serves.
The numbers
The modernisation of Chennai Fishing Harbour, the Kasimedu harbour run alongside Chennai Port, is listed at ₹99.85 crore, with ₹49.93 crore sanctioned and nothing yet released, in the Union shipping ministry’s answer to the Lok Sabha on 13 December 2024. The implementing agency is the Chennai Port Authority and the status was “under implementation”. The same figures appear in a ministry annexure from November 2024.
That makes Kasimedu unusual among Tamil Nadu’s fishing harbours. Most are built by the state fisheries department with central grants or cheap loans. Chennai’s sits inside a major port’s estate, so its upgrade comes through the port and the shipping ministry’s books.
A harbour inside a port
The harbour’s ties to the port show up in unexpected places. Chennai Port Trust’s administration report for 2019-20 records that about 300 m of the Chennai–Ennore port road ran inside the fishing harbour and was held up because fish stalls had to be moved off the alignment; they were cleared on 8 March 2019 so the National Highways Authority could finish the stretch. The same report mentions a gram sabha awareness meeting held at the fishing harbour in Kasimedu.
The best official snapshot of the harbour’s fleet is old. A Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute status report for 1995 counted about 480 trawlers, 20 mechanised gill-netters, 25 motorised and 200 non-motorised catamarans using it, with trawlers bringing in 96.1% of the catch. No later official census of boats or landings at Kasimedu was found for this article; the state’s policy note reports only statewide figures.
How fishing harbours are paid for
| Scheme | Period | Harbours | Landing centres | Cost (₹ cr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Revolution | 2015-16 to 2019-20 | 1 | 1 | 187.90 |
| PM Matsya Sampada Yojana | 2020-21 to 2024-25 | 3 | 4 | 155.57 |
| Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund | 2018-19 to 2026-27 | 9 | 22 | 1,431.50 |
Source: Department of Fisheries, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1269, 30 July 2024; approvals for Tamil Nadu over ten years
Over ten years the Union fisheries department approved 13 fishing harbours and 27 landing centres in Tamil Nadu costing ₹1,774.97 crore, it told the Lok Sabha in July 2024. The infrastructure fund (FIDF) does not give grants; it offers up to 3% interest subvention on NABARD loans, so the state borrows and repays. In August 2025 the department listed an upgrade of Pazhayar and Chennai fishing harbours, with four integrated landing centres at Nettukuppam, Thazhankuppam, Arangankuppam and Goonankuppam, at ₹155.57 crore under PMMSY. Kasimedu’s ₹99.85 crore port-led project is a separate line.
The state’s own harbour programme
The state’s harbours run on a different pipeline. Under FIDF, 64 Tamil Nadu proposals worth ₹1,646.73 crore were approved between 2018-19 and 2025-26, including 12 fishing harbours at ₹1,300 crore and 21 landing centres at ₹157.50 crore, the August 2025 answer says. It reports Nagapattinam’s ₹81 crore modernisation as complete and one phase of the ₹193 crore Thangapattinam expansion in Kanyakumari as done, with ₹258.46 crore used on approved PMMSY projects in the state. The state budget for 2024-25 set aside ₹300 crore under FIDF and ₹305.27 crore under NABARD for fisheries infrastructure, the policy note says. Against that scale, Kasimedu’s port-led ₹99.85 crore sits in the middle of the range: smaller than Poompuhar or Thangapattinam, larger than Nagapattinam’s modernisation. Because it is routed through the port, its progress will show up in shipping ministry answers rather than the state fisheries policy note.
Cost of 13 fishing harbours and 27 fish landing centres approved for Tamil Nadu over ten years, from the Department of Fisheries Lok Sabha answer, July 2024.
What other harbours got
| Project | Status (Nov 2024) | Cost (₹ cr) | Released (₹ cr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chennai Fishing Harbour modernisation (Chennai Port) | Under implementation | 99.85 | 0.00 |
| Poompuhar, Nagapattinam | Completed | 148.00 | 37.00 |
| Mookaiyur, Ramanathapuram | Completed | 113.90 | 28.48 |
| Chinnamuttom expansion, Kanyakumari | Completed | 74.00 | 18.38 |
| Kunthukal | Completed | 74.00 | 16.65 |
Source: Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, annexure on Tamil Nadu projects, November 2024
The comparison shows the pattern. For the completed state projects the shipping ministry’s contribution was about a quarter of the cost, and it was released. For Chennai the sanction was half the cost, but as of the end of 2024 none of it had been paid out. Central releases are usually tied to progress, so a zero can mean slow work, slow paperwork, or both; the answer does not say which.
It’s often said Kasimedu is upgraded by the state fisheries department like other harbours.
The record shows The Union shipping ministry lists Chennai Port Authority as the implementing agency for the ₹99.85 crore modernisation, separate from the state’s PMMSY and FIDF harbour projects.
The fishery the harbour serves
Tamil Nadu has a 1,076 km coast, 10.48 lakh marine fisherfolk and 5,440 mechanised boats, along with 40,312 motorised and 4,175 non-motorised craft, according to the state fisheries policy note for 2024-25. Marine production was 5.97 lakh tonnes in 2022-23, and the state exported 1.23 lakh tonnes of marine products worth ₹6,957.67 crore, with shrimp alone worth ₹5,342.30 crore. The east coast fishing ban runs for 61 days from 15 April to 14 June, and relief was raised to ₹8,000 a family.
Nationally, CMFRI’s estimate for 2024 put marine landings at 3.47 million tonnes, about 2% below 2023. The mechanised sector, which includes trawlers of the kind that dominate Kasimedu, fell by about 1.7 lakh tonnes, while the motorised sector rose by about 1 lakh tonnes, mainly from Tamil Nadu and the east coast.
What this means for you
- Work at Kasimedu is a Chennai Port project; questions about harbour facilities go to the port as well as the fisheries department.
- Boat owners should expect berths, auction halls and roads to change during works; watch for port notices on access.
- Ban-period relief is ₹8,000 a family, of which ₹1,500 is the Union’s share and ₹6,500 the state’s.
- For catch and price trends, CMFRI’s annual landings estimates are the official national series.
What to watch
Pending
Release of the ₹49.93 crore sanctioned for the Chennai Fishing Harbour modernisation, which a future parliamentary answer should show.
Pending
Completion of the PMMSY upgrade listed for Pazhayar and Chennai harbours with four landing centres.
Checked against official sources on 23 October 2026. Figures and rules change; confirm on the linked official pages before relying on them.
Sources
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3035, 13 December 2024, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
- Annexure on Tamil Nadu port and fisheries projects, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (PIB), November 2024
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3799, 12 August 2025, Department of Fisheries: PMMSY in Tamil Nadu
- Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1269, 30 July 2024, Department of Fisheries: modernisation of fish landing centres
- Policy Note 2024-25, Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu
- Madras Fisheries Harbour: a status report for 1995, ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute
- Marine Fish Landings in India 2024, ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute
- Administration Report 2019-20, Chennai Port Trust
