MARGAO: The Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) has issued a strong statement criticizing safety and regulatory practices in trawlers using LED lights. This comes in response to a recent inspection report by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) and the Fisheries Department’s responses in the Assembly. The issue gained attention following a petition filed by Goa Foundation in the High Court, which brought to light the findings of the GSL’s inspection report.
The GSL report highlighted several alarming safety issues that put crew members at risk, especially in the event of accidents at sea. GRE emphasized key points from the report, including the lack of sanitation facilities for crew members who spend 7-10 days at sea, the absence of crucial life-saving equipment such as life rafts and fire detection systems, and missing distress signal equipment, including day or night signal devices to seek external help.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
In light of these findings, GRE has demanded immediate action to ensure the safety of fishing crews on board boats at sea.
GRE General Secretary Olencio Simoes also pointed out contradictions between the GSL report and the LAQ reply given by the Fisheries Department in the ongoing Assembly session. He noted that while the Fisheries Department is requesting court permission for allowing generators up to 170 kV, citing safety reasons, their LAQ reply stated that none of the registered trawlers have generators installed. This contradicts the GSL report, which confirmed the presence of generators on the vessels.
Simoes questioned the discrepancy, stating, “What is the ground reality, as the Fisheries Department is saying one thing and the GSL report says something else?” He further questioned the department’s justification for allowing generators when its own LAQ reply claims trawlers don’t have them.
GRE alleges that the generators are being used to power LED lights rather than for safety purposes, as claimed by the department in court. Simoes added, “It’s very clear that the department is at fault and is covering up the issue. The officer should be held responsible because they give a pass for every voyage.”
The organisation further accused the Fisheries Department of being complicit in allowing the use of LED lights. Simoes stated, “The department is fully exposed and in direct connivance with these LED light users.”
In response to these issues, GRE has called for an immediate halt to all fishing trawler operations until safety measures outlined in the GSL report are implemented. They are demanding accountability for the Fisheries Department in allowing unsafe vessels to operate and action against officers issuing passes to non-compliant vessels.
The GRE emphasized that “Fishing crew lives also matter” and insisted that trawlers should be stopped until proper safety measures are installed and no LED lights or any other illegal gear is allowed on board the boats.
