AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
PORVORIM: The fishing community across Goa celebrated on Thursday as the High Court of Bombay at Goa ordered a complete ban on LED fishing, bull trawling and pair trawling, directing the Directorate of Fisheries to enforce this under the Marine Act.
The order, which came as a 63 page judgment on Writ Petition No 403 of 2022 and was authored by Justice Valmiki Menezes, was a major victory for traditional and smaller fishermen, who have claimed for a long time that they were not being given adequate protection by the Department of Fisheries (DoF).
Taking cognizance of this, the judgment castigated the DoF for the manner in which it tried to mislead the Court during the hearings. The court has set a timeline for the DoF, Coast Guard and the Coastal Police to file compliance reports every three months, with the first date set for September 2.
“The fact remains that there is no enforcement machinery worth the name in place to carry out the statutory duties cast upon the Goa Coastal Police of enforcement of law within the territory assigned to them,” wrote justice Menezes, highlighting the sorry state of affairs of the Coastal Police and Department of Fisheries for lack of adequate vessels and manpower.
“It is the Coast Guard that is required to use all the resources under its power to enforce the State and Central Laws over the Maritime Zones,” it said.
“This includes the area from the coast of Goa, seawards, to a distance of 200 nautical miles. It is therefore the primary duty of the Coast Guard to use such measures as it deems fit, to enforce the provisions of the enactments as are in force in the Maritime Zones in this case the Maritime Act, Ban order under 2016 of the State Government and the Ban order 2017of the Union,” read the order.
“The judgment has exposed the Department of Fisheries and it will go a long way in helping the traditional fishermen who were at the mercy of the corrupt officers of the Department. All staff that helped this illegal LED fishing should be booked,” said a relieved Olencio Simoes, President of Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE).
“The Fisheries Minister, who hails from the fishing community, did nothing for the people of his own community? We hope that at least now, he will amend the Act and ban the carrying of DG sets,” hoped Simoes.
Despite not prohibiting the use of diesel generator sets on board fishing vessels,the order clearly stated that there is evidence of“direct correlation of their use in the banned form of LED fishing”.
Senior High Court counsel Norma Alvares, who appeared for petitioner Goa Foundation, was happy with the judgment that “severely condemned both the State and Central government authorities for not enforcing the ban on LED fishing and therefore issued a slew of directions to the State of Goa, the Coast Guard and the Department of Fisheries to ensure that LED lights are not used by mechanised trawlers in future.”
Clearly exposing chinks in the DoF, the judgment states: “The GSL report,which the DOF initially attempted to suppress from this Court, reflects the fact that after several fishing vessels were inspected at Cutbona, Malim and Vasco jetties,almost all were found with LED lighting systems on board. Some of the inspection reports suggest that the LED lighting systems were of high power and of fishing purposes.”
“The High Court expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the States defence of the use of Diesel Gensets (DG) by the mechanised vessels and instead accepted the Goa Shipyard report which stated that Diesel Gensets are absolutely not required,” corroborated senior counsel Alvares.
The judgment whilst acknowledging that the Coastal Police, “has practically no interceptor boats , instructed that immediate steps should be taken by the Goa Coastal Police and Government of Goa (Home Department) to ensure that interceptor boats are procured in the shortest possible time.”
“A report of the steps taken by these departments and the time line within which the procurement process would be completed shall be placed before this Court on 09.06.2025,” detailed the judgment.
“It is now for the Government of Goa to act on these observations and amend the Marine Fishing Regulation Act to ban DG sets on board fishing vessels in the interest of protecting marine ecology in Goa,” observed Advocate Malisa Zemira Simoes, also representing Goa Foundation.
“All traditional fishermen are happy that the High Court has heard our cries for help. With the department of Fisheries walking along with those doing LED fishing, we were lost for catch,” said a group of traditional fishermen celebrating the verdict in Benaulim beach.
“The two judges, Justice Valmiki Menezes, who wrote the judgment and Justice M S Karnik who presided over the Division Bench have done yeoman service to ensure that we Goans can enjoy our fish diet over the years,” concluded senior counsel Alvares.