Accuses Dept of engaging in corruption; criticises Fisheries Minister for ‘vague and misleading’ statements contradicting the Official Gazette notification on ‘massive fishing fee hikes’; slams him for ‘deliberately ignoring’ requests to increase fuel subsidies from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000
Team Herald
BENAULIM: Presenting a list of eight demands to the State Fisheries Department, the All Goa Small Scale Responsible Fisheries Union (AGSSRFU) has demanded that the department drastically overhaul its priorities and cited various reasons as to how the government failed the traditional fishing community.
Calling for a rollback in the cut in fishing subsidies, the union demanded that the fuel subsidies be hiked to Rs 75,000.
Their third demand was to roll back the hike in fishing fees to all, except trawlers and purse seiners.
They further called for increasing the fishing patrol boat fleet to six from the current one which is in a dysfunctional state.
Their fifth demand was to appoint locals in Odxel and Cacra coast as quasi-judicial officers to crack down on illegal trawling and purse seine fishing in River Zuari as they claimed that the entire Goa Fisheries machinery has flopped.
They also called for authorising local fishing canoe operators to counter illegal trawlers and purse seiners in River Zuari.
They further demanded the formation of a task force to clean up plastic from the rivers of Goa till the plastic entanglement in fishing nets of stakes and gillnets is stopped.
In their eighth and final demand, they demanded an increase in the allocation of funds to the Fisheries Department so that they could fulfil the earlier demands.
The Union accused the Fisheries Department of engaging in corruption.
“The Enforcement Section of the Fisheries Department has been in a coma when it comes to cracking down on illegal trawling and illegal purse seine activity. However, it has been active and agile in hiking various fishing-related registration fees, licence fees and security deposit fees by 200 per cent to 1,000 per cent of small-scale fisheries,” said Laximan Mangueshkar, Union’s Secretary.
Mangueshkar lamented that while the Department on one hand has increased fishing fees dramatically, on the other hand it has not enforced its decision, as a result of which, only the registered fishermen are being punished by the ‘economic terrorism of the Fisheries Department’, which allows others to get away scot-free.
The Department should scrap the rules as there is widespread resistance to the same or enforce it across the board, he said.
“While the department has gone about increasing fishing fees it has completely neglected large-scale plastic and effluent release in rivers that pollutes and hinders fishing activities,” Mangueshkar claimed.
The Union criticised Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar for his “vague and misleading” statements, which contradict the Official Gazette notification on the ‘massive fishing fee hikes’.
They slammed the Minister for “deliberately ignoring” several requests to increase fuel subsidies from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 and for instead reducing these subsidies from Rs 50,000 to Rs 30,000.
The Union criticised the Department for wasting public exchequer funds on the three-day mega fish festival scheduled to take place at Campal, Panjim from February 10.
“This festival, therefore, is a waste of public funds spent on fashion shows, cooking and other entertainment that the department is organising instead of increasing the fleet of patrol boats,” said Mangueshkar.
The Union said the Government’s criminal nexus with the trawlers and purse seine fishing boats lobby is evident from the fact its patrol boat has been kept in dysfunctional state for years. They demanded that the Vigilance Department investigate how the department has been deliberately committing dereliction of duty by promoting and supporting illegal trawling and purse seine fishing. The Union then listed out a list of illegal activities by trawlers and purse seiners that have been taking place by trawlers in the Zuari River, Cacra-Odxel coast, which they say has disrupted the marine ecology and aquatic life of the region.
They accused the trawlers as well as purse seiners of violating rules wherein fishing gear is banned from use inside the rivers and within five kilometres from the shore.
Mangueshkar said that such activity depletes fish stock in rivers besides causing other problems.
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Benaulim’s Pele challenges 40 MLAs to a 5-km swim in Arabian Sea or scrap new fishing rules
Furious over the government’s decision to charge fees for fishing with traditional equipment,
Pele Fernandes, a fisherman from Benaulim, has challenged all 40 MLAs to compete with him in a
5 km swimming race in the Arabian Sea or if not, then scrap the fishing rules mandating registration
of fishing gear.
“If they overtake me, I am ready to concede defeat and accept the new fishing rule, but if the MLAs cannot reach the finishing line before me, they should pressurise the government to scrap the new rule, which will hamper our traditional fishing activity,” he said.
“Today, it’s about levying fees on fishing. Tomorrow, the government will ban people from taking a bath in the sea. This is totally unacceptable. I fail to understand why the government has to suddenly bring this rule or whether this is all part of making Goa a coal hub,” Pele said
“We have a large number of Goans settled abroad. When they come down for holidays, many of them prefer to go out to the river banks and the seashores with fishing rods and traditional fishing gear,” said Pele.
