MARGAO: The All-Goa Small Scale Responsible Fisheries Union has filed an urgent complaint with authorities alleging illegal mechanised fishing activity in the Zuari river that they say occurred earlier this month.
According to the Union’s president Shaila D’Mello and secretary Laximan Mangueshkar, eight trawlers allegedly carried out purse seine fishing, a form of prohibited mechanised fishing, within the river, from 9.45 pm on May 9, until well past midnight at 12.30 am.
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The complaint letter, addressed to the Superintendent of Police (SP) for Coastal Security, Director of the Department of Fisheries, and Captain of Ports (CoP), states that attempts to report the violations to the Fisheries Control Room were unsuccessful due to a non-functional phone line.
“All the efforts to register complaints against mechanised fishing at the Fisheries Department control room proved futile as the phone was non-functional with a busy tone from 9.55 pm till 10.55 pm while illegal fishing was going on in the Zuari,” the letter stated.
The Union alleges that the phone receiver may have been deliberately kept off the hook to prevent logging of complaints about the illegal fishing activity. They have requested urgent action, including the provision of two additional dedicated telephone lines with night staff to handle such complaints.
The letter cites a violation of directions issued in a pending writ petition that is being heard by the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court regarding mechanised fishing restrictions. A copy of the complaint has been marked to the Chief Justice of the High Court.
