Karsten Miranda
karsten@herald-goa.com
In 2013, the fishing trawler boat owners association from Cutbona and Vasco had proposed to take over the management of the wholesale fish market and had even filed for the wholesale fish market sopo tender unsuccessfully.
The boat owners and traditional fishermen selling fish at the wholesale fish market are all united on this issue. They had stated that the boat owners wanted to participate in the bid to try and bring about a turnaround in the messy wholesale market and claimed that that would have addressed the hygiene and cleanliness of the market which has been a long standing complaint from consumers and ensured that everything ran smoothly. They also questioned why Goan fishermen, be it trawler owners or traditional fishermen were not being allowed to take over the market and only those from outside Goa were allowed to continue managing the market including the collection of sopo fee.
The trawler owners even threatened to come on to the streets to protest the SGDPA’s tender criteria which they claimed was aimed at discouraging their participation in the tender process. The Goa fishing boat owners association had then asked the government and SGPDA chairman, Rajan Naik to drop the year experience clause.
