TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Curtains finally came down on the fishing season with the 61-day ban on mechanised fishing coming into force from tonight.
A visit to the Cutbona jetty revealed that most of the fishing vessels had already dropped anchor in River Sal. Home to around 300 fishing vessels, the remaining 25-30 per cent of the vessels which had ventured out to sea on Friday and Saturday are expected to return to Cutbona by Saturday night.
With the vessels dropping anchor, the fishermen at Cutbona have accorded compliance to the order on the ban issued by the Director Fisheries Dr Sharmila Monteiro. A copy of the ban order was prominently pasted at the fuel pump, which will be sealed. The District Magistrate is expected to seal the jetty. The ban comes into force from June 1 and ends on July 31. The jetties and the landing centres will be jointly patrolled by police and Fisheries department.
Cutbona Boat Owners Union Vice President, Roosevelt Alemao, said that all the fishing boats which had ventured out to sea will return before the ban comes into force at midnight. “Almost 75 per cent of the boats operating from Cutbona jetty have dropped anchor. The remaining vessels are all returning to the jetty,” he said.
MIGRANT WORKFORCE: That end of the fishing season became evident at the jetty as one found the migrant workforce glued to a TV set installed in a shed on the river banks. Mostly hailing from the Northern states of Jharkhand and Odissa, migrant workers employed on the fishing vessels as Khalashis are gearing up to leave for their native states. Majority of the workers are expected to leave Goa by the middle of next week and are expected to return after a two-month break. Goa’s mechanised fishing industry is totally dependent on migrant manpower. It is not uncommon to find boat owners travelling to Jharkhand, Odissa or Andhra Pradesh in search of workers on the eve of the fishing season.
The Union vice president said the migrant workforce would start leaving the jetties for their native states from June 3.
LAST CATCH: A number of fishing vessels landed at the Cutbona fishing jetty with a prized catch of sardines. Tons of sardines were off loaded at the fishing jetty by the handful of vessels which returned to the jetty on Saturday. The catch by Purse Seine vessels reportedly go to the fish meal plants either in Goa or across the border. Information gathered by Herald revealed catches of sardines netted by purse seine vessels this season, mostly found its way to the fish meal plants along the country’s west coast. The sardines, sources said, were netted off the Konkan coast near Mumbai. Boat owners engaged in purse seining informed that some of the owners did make moderate to good business during the last 2-3 months.
UNLOADING OF FISHING NETS: With the fishing vessels anchored in River Sal, the fishing jetty was agog with the hustle and bustle of unloading fishing nets from the vessels. Nets unloaded from the vessels were either kept for drying along the main road leading to the jetty or were transported to the residences of the boat owners. The net mending shed also came alive with migrant workers mending damaged fishing nets.
