VASCO: The traditional fishermen community from Vasco and
Baina strongly objected to the proposed
fishing finger pier jetty at Vasco bay.
Addressing a joint press conference at Khariwdo, the members
of Old Cross Canoe Association Owners Co-operative Society ltd (OLCAOCSL),
Baina Ramponkar and Fishing Canoe Owners Society(BRFCOS), Desteirro Fishermen
Association, Goenchea Raponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) and all other associations of
Goa also demanded that the state and Central government besides Mormugao Port Trust(MPT)
should immediately scrape the figure pier jetty at Khariwado bay and should upgrade or Modernise or expand the existing fishing jetty near berth
no.11 of MPT Failing which they threatened that they will be forced to come on
street citing that their livelihood and only beach of Vasco town will be
completely destroyed by this proposed fishing jetty at Vasco bay.
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General Secretary, Olencio Simoes of GRE said that “Google
Earth (GE) satellite images indicate that sand is found only on the eastern
half of the coastal strip at Khariwada and western part is in grip of chronic
erosion, sand starvation and in turn causes a disequilibrium of coastal process
and this is because of unsustainable development and continuous maintenance
dredging done in the navigational channel by the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT). It
is also because of berth no. 11 was constructed in 1990’s and the area is
deepened to 13 meters and the impact is that the beach sand got drained into
the channel and this ongoing process is leading to prolonged beach erosion and
the beach existed all along the 1 kilometre long coast and this beach vanished
over time at Khariwado bay. The Naval charts of 1970 and 2007 reveal that the
depth of contours appears to have changed significantly / drastically over
period of time,” Simoes said.
Old Cross Canoe Association Owners Co-operative Society ltd
President Custodio D’souza said, “The proposed fishing berth project will
completely destroy our remaining sandy
beach which is of hardly 350 meters and thereby displacing landing point
of the traditional fisherman of Khariwado, Baina and Desterro. At present, the
water depth at the proposed fishing berth area is (-) 2.5m (average).The
proposed project plans to Dredge the
Vasco bay by depth of (-) 15 meters and
the dredging quantity is about 5 lakhs cu.mtrs which means not only our Khariwado
beach will vanish but also our houses will be washed away due to continuous
annual maintenance dredging”.
Custodio further stated, “Unsustainable dredging creates
disturbance to aquatic ecosystems. The soil deposits in any water-body have a
certain pre-disposed composition. Through unsustainable dredging this
composition gets altered thus leading to death of the existing habitat of
creatures and organisms that depends on the original composition of the soil,
due to the unfavourableness of the changes caused. The turbidness of the soil
under the water also changes due to this alteration in the underwater soil
composition. This poses problems by way of creation of newer and harmful
organisms, transferring of unwanted organisms to other parts in the water-body
leading to a wider spread of contamination and organic processes by way of
release of extra and unwanted nutrients. The turbidness also causes the already
existing contaminations to spread further into the water-body which ultimately
affects the marine environment adversely, removing gravel from river beds by
dredging leads to the loss of spawning grounds for fish, and can cause loss of
some fish species.”
