MARGAO: Fishing communities from across the State have expressed their solidarity with the beleaguered fishermen of Vainguinim and Dona Paula beach who have been asked not only to cease any fishing activities for the duration of the National Games but also to remove their canoes from the beach, even though this has been their traditional place of storing their small canoes.
Olencio Simoes, a member of Goenchea Raponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) and National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), condemned this move of the government, stating that it is a huge injustice to traditional ‘Niz Goemkar’ small fishermen, and he demanded that if the government does prevent the fishermen from fishing, then they have to be adequately compensated.
Simoes added that this is going to set a precedent where fishermen will be told to stop fishing whenever an event takes place and said this exposes who the government is prioritizing. Simoes further questioned why the government was not concentrating on improving the infrastructure for the fisheries sector with the same amount of interest.
On Wednesday, the All Goa Small Scale Responsible Fisheries Union, which had protested against this development the previous day, wrote a letter to the Captain of Ports (CoP) and the Fisheries Department, asking that the directions issued to the local fishermen be withdrawn. In that letter, Union President Shaila D’Mello and Secretary Laximan Mangueshkar demanded that the authorities facilitate smooth fishing activities during the National Games in Goa without any kind of obstructions and impediments.
The local fishing community from Vainguinim beach, while recalling how they had thwarted similar attempts to get them to stop fishing when the G20 summit had taken place, expressed disappointment that the authorities were ignoring their basic rights.
“As it is during the monsoon and the continuous rainfall after the fishing ban was lifted, we were unable to go to sea for more than 3 months. So we are facing problems in feeding our families as we only earn when we go to the sea and bring the fish we catch back to our land. We won’t survive if we are asked not to venture into the sea this month as well,” said Shekhar Kuttikar, a local fisherman.
The fishermen also recalled that while two officials from the Captain of Ports had given them the instructions on Tuesday, on Wednesday, officials from the District Collector had visited the beach, but the fishermen were not called for any discussion or a chance to place their side before the authorities.
Kuttikar added that they asked the government officials to find them space to store the canoes, but were told that the government can’t help them with that and they have to find another location themselves.
The fishing community was shocked by this attitude and recalled that they
have been fishing here for generations.
They also questioned why other locations where fishing activity does not take place were not chosen for the water sports activity, for which they have been asked to shut shop, literally. When asked if they would seek compensation, the fishermen cited what happened to fishermen from Nauxim whose canoes had burnt and received subpar compensation from the Fisheries Department, even though the department is presently boasting about its schemes.
The fishermen lamented that it appears that the government would prefer if they stop fishing in these traditional areas to benefit the hotel and commercial lobby.
