SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
KARSTEN MIRANDA & VIJAY DESSAI
BETUL: In this game of cat and mouse, Goa’s coastal police have been on the losing end for more than a decade now and sadly, all those indulging in illegal activity at sea, especially trawlers entering Goan territorial waters from Maharashtra and Karnataka, get to escape scot-free.
Herald visited the Betul Coastal Police station to examine the facilities that are available with the police to nab these boats coming into Goa from neighbouring States or those moving with LED lights or bull trawling gear. Patrol boats were lying at the side of the police station abandoned as they are still awaiting repairs for the last two years. There is no annual maintenance contract (AMC) to look after these boats either.
For years now, whenever the coastal police receive complaints from local fishermen or concerned citizens, they do not have enough patrol boats to go out and catch the culprits red-handed. The trawlers they are chasing have stronger engines and travel at great speed leaving the coastal boats far behind. The only few times they have been successful is when the local fishermen lend their own boats and assist the coastal police in catching these errant trawlers.
Due to this scenario, there is no fear of the law amongst those boats that have entered Goan territorial waters from outside the State and thus this has been taking place every year.
Furthermore, these trawlers are also destroying the nursing grounds of several species of fish and marine ecology as well.
The destruction caused by these boats, including those that use LED lights and bull trawling is that they kill the baby fish and do not allow the fish to breed and regenerate.
The coastal police have been demanding that they be provided with high-speed boats to keep a watch on these illegal fishing boats entering Goa but till now they lamented they have not got a single boat and neither have their damaged boats been repaired.
Sources at the Coastal Police informed Herald that in the year 2013, the State government had purchased nine boats for the coastal police in all coastal police stations including the three coastal police stations in South Goa that are at Betul, Talpona (Canacona), and Harbour (Vasco). While each police station was equipped with two high-speed boats, unfortunately, none of these boats is in a working condition. The sources lamented that these boats were purchased at a high cost but now most of these boats are being treated like scrap.
“Most of these boats will require a high amount of funds to carry out repairs. Some are unfortunately beyond repair,” a source added.
Pele Fernandes, a traditional fisherman from Benaulim, who has worked with the coastal police to stop boats from outside Goa from coming into the State’s territorial waters, said the government should immediately give the coastal police ten-speed boats to protect the local fishermen.
“Last year we had used our boats to help the coastal police catch these big trawlers from outside Goa coming into our waters with illegal fishing gear and taking away all our fish. This was raised in the Assembly but nothing has changed. The government should expedite these issues so that once the fishing ban is lifted in August, they are prepared to stop the entry of any such boats,” Pele added.
“The coastal police need to get at least 10 more speed boats and adequate machinery to track these boats from outside Goa using satellite imagery,” Pele added.
“It is an utter shame that even after the local fishermen have caught these illegal boats from outside Goa and brought to the notice of the fisheries department, still these boats continue to enter our State without any fear. These are the boats that are using illegal fishing equipment and carrying out illegal bull trawling in Goan territorial waters using high speed engines” said Agnelo Rodrigues, President of Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE).
When Herald spoke to officials at the Coastal Police, they confirmed that they can only do more in terms of taking action against these boats from outside the State if they have adequate infrastructure.
Sources further stated that whenever there is a VVIP visit in Goa or any emergency, they have to borrow boats from the Coast Guard or Fisheries Department. They explained that they use jet skis or small boats to catch those illegal boats that are close to the coast or at the jetty but they are helpless when it comes to catching illegal boats entering Goan waters and are located far away.
Sources at the Coastal police however reiterated that they have expert personnel who can use the high-speed boats if it was available to them but they only can work with what they have and these are limited resources.
“We have sent our requirements to the government. These are in terms of the facilities we need for optimum functioning that can help our efforts,” said Santosh Dessai, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Coastal Police, South Goa
“The government must start thinking long term. If proper action is not taken today, Goan fishermen will have to stop going out to fish altogether as there won’t be any fish in the sea to fish. If this trend continues, then Goa will head towards fish extinction and be like other countries where the fisheries sector has come to a halt because of the use of such destructive gears and continuous over-exploitation of fishing resources,” said Camilo Souza, another traditional ramponkar.
