A team of Goa Police lead by Deputy Superintendent of South Goa, Mohan Naik, and trawler owners from Goa rushed to Malvan where police have recovered trawlers after paying a fine of 5 thousand per boat for venturing into Maharashtra waters. Fisheries Minister, Avertano Furtado has expressed his anger over the untoward actions of the Maharashtra Fisheries Department.
Furtado says “Venturing into alien waters and specifically into waters of neighbouring States happens all the time. Fishermen from Maharashtra have also ventured so many times into Goa waters, but we haven’t assaulted the crew the way they have done this time”. The Trawler Owners’ Association has taken the high-handedness of the Maharashtra Fisheries Department seriously and has called an immediate meeting of trawler owners from all parts of Goa. Trawler owners from Panjim, Vasco, Betul and Cutbona are planning to shut down all the transport of fish to Maharashtra from Goa as a mark of protest and anger against the whole mishandling of the incident by the Maharashtra Fisheries Department. The trawler owners claim the losses to the trawlers have exceeded one-and-a-half crore with large fishing nets, global positioning devices and costly equipment destroyed beyond repair.
