Royapuram fishing harbour

Royapuram fishing harbour, also known as Chennai fishing harbour or Kasimedu fishing harbour, is one of the major fishing grounds for catching fishes and crustaceans located at Kasimedu in the Royapuram area of Chennai, India. The harbour is located north of the Chennai Port and is under the administrative control of the Chennai Port Trust. The harbour is also a shipbuilding facility, chiefly building fishing boats. The nearest railway station is the Royapuram Railway Station.

The harbour can accommodate 575 fishing boats, and by 2013 the number of boats has gone up to 1,395.

The harbour area is primarily a fisherman community area migrated from Chepauk village in 1799 during the rule of the East India Company. The harbour was constructed in 1975. The fishing harbour is functioning from 1984. It suffered an extensive damage during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The breakwater inside the harbour leads up to 300 m into the sea. The draft alongside the wharf is 2 m. The harbour has a capacity to handle about 575 fishing craft but over 1,395 boats use the space. Over 600 45-ft boats (each operated by 11 people), 200 30-ft boats (each operated by 4 people) and 300 fibre boats with outboard motors (each operated by 3 to 4 people), in addition to hundreds of catamarans, use the harbour.

Nearly 30,000 people visit the auction hall situated near the harbour every day. Of the daily sales amounting to 200 tonnes, nearly 30 per cent is sent to other States such as Karnataka and Kerala and the remaining is provided for local markets.

A retail fish market known as the Kasimedu fishing harbour market with 90 stalls is located within the Chennai fishing harbour complex adjacent to the auction shed of the fishing harbour and behind the Office of the Fishing Harbour Management Committee. The market sells a variety of fishes including seer, pomfret, prawn, shark, sardine, crab, silverbellies, carangids and mackerel.

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