Team Herald
MARGAO: In a scathing critique of the State’s fisheries management, the Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE), came down heavily on the State Directorate of Fisheries for failing to enforce ban on fishing trawlers using LED lights.
Hitting out at Fisheries Director Shamila Monterio, the GRE has alleged that the Directorate is not only turning a blind eye to the use of LED lights, but is actively facilitating continued use of the same by allowing generators on fishing vessels.
GRE claimed that this enables purse-seine trawler owners to power the prohibited LED lights, effectively circumventing the ban and perpetuating what many consider a destructive fishing method.
GRE contended that the continued use of LED lights in fishing, has been responsible for a noticeable decline in fish availability in Goan waters.
It also lamented that despite the matter being heard presently by the High Court, the purse-seine trawler owners appear undeterred and brazenly employing LED lights and other controversial fishing gear with no fear for the law.
GRE as well as Old Cross Canoe Owners and representatives of traditional fishermen from South Goa and North Goa, feared that their livelihoods are being threatened by what they described to be unsustainable and illegal fishing practices. They argue that the use of LED lights, combined with other high-tech fishing methods, not only gives larger trawlers an unfair advantage, but also has a huge ecological impact in the sea.
They argued that the intense illumination can disrupt marine ecosystems, affecting the behaviour and migration patterns of various species, not just those targeted by fishermen. They added that it has totally destroyed the nursing grounds of several species of fish and marine ecology.
GRE Vice President Camilo Souza and Old Canoe Owners Association President Custodio D’Souza had addressed the media in this regard in the presence of their fellow fishermen.