VASCO: The fishermen community have expressed their serious concerns over the safety of their fishing vessels due to existence of ship wrecks in the Zuari River, which are causing the accidents.
The concerns were raised after a Panjim-based fishing boat with crew onboard capsized off Goa Shipyard in the River Zuari on Thursday. All the crew members however were rescued by other fishermen and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed at GSL.
“On Thursday a fishing boat from Panjim suffered damage and later capsized after it hit the remnants of a fishing vessel namely ‘Pakistan’ that capsized several years ago in the river Zuari. Ironically this is not the first incident as on several occasions in past fishermen find their boats damaged due to ship wrecks.
“Sadly all our plea for the removal of shipwrecks from the seabed or to at least put buoys around the shipwrecks turned futile, leaving poor fishermen to face undue loss and risk to their lives at regular intervals,“ said Custodio D’Souza, President, Old Cross Fishing Canoe Owners’ Cooperative Society (OCFCOCS).
“Last year the Mormugao Port Trust had announced that they would remove the remnants of ships, but surprisingly the same is not removed till date. Similarly we have several other sunken shipwrecks in the navigational channel which has been affecting smooth movements of fishing boats,” D’Souza said.
