GRE?objects to MPT marinas in Zuari bay

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: The Mormugao Port Trust’s plans to construct two marinas in the Zuari bay will not only eliminate Chicalim bay oysters and clams but deprive villagers of the precious resource and their livelihoods, Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott argued Wednesday. 

The Zuari bay is considered one of the few thriving habitats of the Window Pane Oysters in the whole of Asia and is protected under Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act. 

In a statement to the press, jointly signed by GRE president Agnelo Rodrigues and Vice President Gopi Naik, the GRE said it would oppose the developments by MPT, especially if they come at the cost of local livelihoods. 

“High-end tourism projects are welcome but they should not be at the cost of the traditional inhabitants of Goa, who are deprived of their livelihoods and displaced from their habitation all in the name of State’s development,” Rodrigues said in a statement. 

The waters of Sancoale bay, Chicalim bay (including St Jacinto Island) and off Siridao beach are rich fishing habitats that have enabled the traditional fishermen to carry on their activities unhindered for centuries… Families from Bogmalo, Baina, Velsao, Utorda, Majorda, Cortalim, Quelossim and Dabolim are engaged in collection of clams, shellfish, etc. 

Thousands of families from Siridao, Goa Velha, and Curca are engaged in fishing by using traditional methods for centuries, being either ramponkars engaged in gillnet fishing or phutani fishing, Rodrigues said. 

The MPT has planned to set up two marinas ~ one in the Sancoale bay and the other in the Siridao bay to the North of the Zuari estuary. 

“Dredging of lakhs of cubic metres of earth and construction activity will disturb the seabed and adversely and totally affect our livelihood and the construction at the breakwaters will adversely affect the ecology of the area, thus directly impacting the catch of traditional fishermen.  The damage caused will be irreparable,” Rodrigues said. 

An earlier study by the National Institute of Oceanography had found high traces of iron, zinc and lead from oyster and clam samples taken in Chicalim bay, which the study said could be due to the increase in ship dockyard activity along the Zuari’s southern bank.  

The windowpane oysters and the Chicalim bay oysters have been found to be high in protein per gram and were considered to be an important source of protein to a protein starved nation.