SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: Stating that the nuisance on the beach needs to be controlled, Benaulim fishermen on Monday urged the government to utilise the land owned by the Fisheries Department near the beach for fishing activities.
A few locals also demanded that action be taken against the fish traders for creating mess in the open space close to the beach while loading the fish catch.
Since the last few days, several traders were seen directly buying fish from traditional fishermen and loading the same into the vehicles.
Herald in its edition dated August 2 had reported that the beach is slowly turning into a mini-fishing jetty.
Immediately, a few locals were seen urging a fishing trader to clean the area and make way for the fish water to flow into the nearby gutters.
Cruz Fernandes from Benaulim said they have no problem with the fishing activities but the mess created by the fish traders is unacceptable.
"We are witness to the mess created here and the fish water is flowing everywhere. I urge the concerned authorities to ask the fishing traders to shift to another place", he said.
A traditional fishermen Alex Fernandes admitted that nuisance created by the fishing traders is causing hardship to the people. However, the people need to bear with the same for a few days, as this is the only time traditional fishermen can earn some profit from the first catch of the new season.
"It has been brought to our notice that the Fisheries Department-owned land admeasuring nearly 40,000 square metres is lying unutilized near the Benaulim beach. However, entry to this land has been blocked for the past several years. We, the traditional fishermen of Benaulim urge that the land be utilised for fishing activities to ensure no nuisance is caused at the parking lot ", he urged.
"Many of our traditional fishermen are compelled to sell fish by roadside near Maria Hall and other places which is risky. We, traditional fishermen have no place to sell the catch in Benaulim", Alex claimed.
In the last three days, a bumper catch of 50,000 tonnes of solar shrimps was reported at Benaulim. Fishermen from Cavelossim, Mobor, Colva and other areas had a sizable catch of solar shrimps on Saturday and Sunday. But on Monday they managed only 5,000 tonnes. However, the mackerel catch was more disappointing.
