On Monday, a team of officials from the Fisheries Department and Captain of Ports inspected the boats at the jetty with regard to the recent notification banning LED lights and other equipment. They will submit their report to the Fisheries Department for further action.
This is against the backdrop of tense scenes witnessed at the jetty on Sunday, when the rift between boat owners came to the fore; a large group of boat owners and those protesting the use of LED lights had demanded action against a boat, which they claimed had plans to venture out to sea with banned gear. Cuncolim police officials were also present.
However, the boat owner rejected the charge and said he was putting ice on the boat. He also questioned the action of the Fisheries Department with respect to the use of generators. He felt that the notification on generators was contradictory as there was a government subsidy scheme for generators.
It is to be noted that the purse seiners have also decided to challenge the notification. It may also be recalled that, on Saturday, when the Fisheries Department had come for inspection, it had impounded two boats that were using generators.
Cutbona Boat Owners’ Union president Savio D’Silva, who had spearheaded the agitation against LED lights at Cutbona, demanded that the purse seiners immediately comply with the notification and remove the LED lights. He added that almost all the trawlers operating from Cutbona had complied, except for a few, like the one that had tried to venture out on Sunday.
He also said that countries like Indonesia and Korea were suffering from mass depletion of fish in the sea, and compared the damage caused by LED lights to the damage caused by mining.
Earlier on Sunday, a meeting with the Salcete Deputy Collector, Fisheries Department, boat owners and ramponkars was held. Deputy Collector Ajit Panchwadkar had called for the meeting to discuss the implementation of the ramponkars’ demands and in view of the rising tensions at the jetty. Referring to the inspection carried out by the Fisheries Department on Saturday, he rued how the department had sent in new and inexperienced staff.
While a section of boat owners and ramponnkars demanded that the LED lights be removed immediately, Panchwadkar felt that the Fisheries Department should give the boat owners a few days to get the right equipment to remove the LED lights and other types of gear that have been banned.
He added that, after that given time period, if the boat owners still did not remove the banned gear, then the Fisheries Department should take action against them, and boats having LED lights could not go out to sea.
However, with the fishing season coming to a close, and ramponnkars and boat owners against the use of LED lights and not allowing boats to venture into the sea with the same, the situation is on the boil, and the police and coastal guard are monitoring the situation.
