Canoe owners from Vasco and Baina stare at the roughest storm they have faced at sea. And the forces of nature have nothing to do with this storm which is totally manmade.
Joining their counterpart trawler owners from Vasco, they have expressed growing worry about their future, after the recent introduction of fishing light attractors (FLAs) on trawlers as well as bull trawling by big fishermen.
These fishermen are staring at what they call a fish famine, due to the ‘unnatural’ way of fishing by some fishermen to attract all the fish for miles.
For Gracious Coutinho, who is a canoe owner from Vasco and is also the general secretary of Old Cross fishing canoe Owners Co-Operative society (a parent body of canoes owners from Vasco) the current fishing season has proved to be the worst affected season and people are close to a decision on giving up their traditional occupation.
“They first started using high speed engine boats, then bull trawling began and now the latest addition is fishing light attractors (FLAs). The effect of unnatural fishing is obvious on all and especially the canoe owners like us who always fishing naturally. Today all our canoes owners have one single complaint that their fish catch has reduced to 50 percent, this season, which is the lowest in last several years and if this trend continue then we will all be out of work. A disaster looms,” Coutinho told Herald.
According to the Old Cross Fishing Society, out of 87 canoes owners, ten members have already stopped venturing out to sea due to low fish catch and have actually put the business on hold for temporary period. “There would be many reason behind our few members keeping the business on the hold but the main reason behind taking such a drastic decision is lack of business and constant loss due to low catch. For example after venturing in the sea along with the crew on my canoe, we returned back with just one basket of mackerels,” a member of the fishing society said.
The canoe owners from Baina are also on the same boat. According to Sadiq Yaqub, President of Baina Ramponkar Fishing Canoe Owners Society, there has been scanty fish catch since last few weeks due to which half the canoe owners from Baina have stopped venturing out to sea. “Fishermen from Baina will face their worst-ever economic crisis as only few months are left for the season to get over,” said Yaqub. Deperate and desolate, Yaqub recounts with remorse that as
part of Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) they had asked the State government to stop such bull trawling. But things got worse as trawler owners now are installing FLAs and further worsen the scenario.
Fishermen from the Mormugao Bay have called for a ban on FLAs and unnatural fishing and demanded that the government should start a dialogue with Centre so that there should be uniform law banning unnatural way of fishing not only in State territorial waters but even in the country’s territorial waters.
