Bhubaneswar, Nov. 8: Eleven lakh fishermen in Odisha will be covered under an accident insurance scheme from this year onwards.

Both marine and inland fishermen, besides those fishing in the Chilka Lake, will be entitled to the benefit.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has taken this decision. The government will provide Rs 1 lakh to the family of a fisherman in the eventuality of death and Rs 50,000 to accident victims.

According to an official estimate, about 10.84 lakh people depend on fishing for their livelihood — 7.51 lakh on inland fisheries and 3.33 lakh on marine fisheries.

Odisha, a major maritime state with a 480-km coastline and a chain of rivers, has tremendous potential for development of the fisheries sector. Apart from being located along the Bay of Bengal, the state has rivers and canals of 1.55 lakh hectare, ponds and tanks with surface area of 1.16 lakh hectare, reservoirs of 2.56 lakh hectares and swamps and lakes of 1.80 lakh hectare.

Besides, the state is endowed with brackish water resources, including the Chilka lagoon, extending over 79,000 hectares.

According to the Fisheries Survey of India, the state has a fisheries potential of 5.13 lakh metric tonnes. Odisha ranks seventh in fish production in the country.

To step up fisheries production in reservoirs, the state government introduced the reservoir fisheries policy in 2004.

The chief minister also reviewed the performance of dairy, poultry and livestock sector.

It was revealed that Odisha has ranked 14th in milk production, eighth in egg production and ninth position in meat production.