The district administration has invited applications from active fishermen, who wish to take up deep sea fishing by availing themselves of 50% subsidy for constructing new tuna longliner-cum-gill-netter. Seeking to wean away fishermen engaged in single-day mechanised boat fishing into multi-day deep sea fishing, Collector S. Natarajan called upon them to avail themselves of the subsidy to the maximum of Rs. 30 lakh. He said joint owners of a group comprising a maximum of six fishermen, fisheries cooperative societies or individual fishermen could apply for the subsidy. The applicants should be active fishermen and members of fishermen cooperative societies based in the State with biometric identity cards. Interested fishermen could download the applications free of cost by visiting www.fisheries.tn.gov.in and send the completed applications with the design of the new longliner to the Fisheries Commissioner, Chennai, by June 16. The design of the longliner, in original, should be certified by a naval architect, he said. Official sources said 60% of the total subsidy had been earmarked for fishermen from Ramanathapuram, Pudukottai, Nagapatthinam, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts, who were fishing in the Palk Bay. Since they get arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel after entering Sri Lankan waters, top priority had been given to them in the subsidy scheme. The back-ended subsidy would be released in three stages, they added.