CM asks motorised canoe owners to follow ban, but they refuse to buckle; meeting on June 4
Cutbona packs up
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Curtains have finally come down on the fishing season with the ban on fishing by mechanised vessels coming into force from midnight.
The hustle and hustle at the Cutbona fishing jetty went missing on Friday. Fishing vessels which had ventured out in the sea are expected to return back either midnight or tomorrow to drop anchor as officials of the taluka mamlatdars are expected to seal the jetties from June 1.
A visit to the Cutbona fishing jetty revealed that labourers were engaged in unloading fishing nets from the vessels. Many a trawler owner has already transported the fishing nets, while labourers were engaged in repairing nets at the adjoining fish-mending shed.
Labourers from the states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, working as ‘khalashis’ on the trawlers, are bracing up to pack their bags and leave to their native places as the 61-day ban comes into force from midnight.
President of Cutbona Boat Owners Union, Sebestiao Cardozo, said that he has asked all the trawler owners to return back to the fishing jetty by midnight. “We will all cooperate with the fisheries department for implementation of the 61-day ban,” Cardozo said, but asserted that all fishing vessels, including mechanised canoes should be banned from venturing out during the monsoons.
“The ban should be made applicable for all mechanised boats, including motorised canoes,” he said.
Canoe owners defiant
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Even as the 61-day fishing ban came into force midnight Friday, canoe owners, who are upset over having been included in the ban, were asked by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to follow the notification till the government decides on the issue, after an inconclusive meeting held today.
The ban will, however, not apply to non-motorised canoes.
Christio D’Souza, a leader of the canoe owners, said that Chief Minister has called for a meeting on June 4 to decide on the issue of canoe owners, who have demanded that they should be excluded from the ban.
“Till then he has asked us to follow the ban,” D’Souza added.
The canoe owners and their over 140 associations Friday approached the Chief Minister and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado.
Earlier, speaking to media persons, D’Souza said they would consider staying away perhaps only from next year if the government this year ensures that no trawlers fish within the designated 5-km zone from the coast and they are satisfied that the trawlers stay away from that zone throughout the year.
