The measurement of the length of the fishing boats assumes significance in the wake of complaints that many a fishing boat has been operating from the jetties beyond the permissible size.
A team of fisheries officials descended at the Cutbona fishing jetty during the weekend to inspect each of the 300 vessels anchored at River Sal. With a measuring tape, the team inspected the length of the vessels to check and verify whether they have violated the norms vis-a-vis the length of the vessels.
When Herald contacted Director of Fisheries, Dr Sharmila Monteiro, she said the exercise is being carried out to verify the length of the vessels. “The fisheries department have granted permission to fishing boats up to a length of only 20 meters. The ongoing exercise is to verify whether the boats have conformed to the set norms,” Dr Monteiro added.
The exercise comes against the backdrop of complaints of traditional fishermen operating around the Betul belt that some of the boat owners have illegally rebuilt their vessels beyond the permissible limits. They had pointed out that the presence of the huge vessels has created congestion in the river Sal.The issue had figured at the gram sabha of the Velim Panchayat earlier this month,
