VASCO: Contrary to the claims frequently made by the fishermen community from Goa that outstation fishing boats and trawlers have been illegally fishing in the territorial waters of Goa in full swing, the Indian Coast Guard (CG) on Thursday said that it has rarely seen them operating within the territorial waters of Goa.
“Generally during our special community interaction programme with fishermen community in Goa, we have tried to stress on safety of fishermen at sea. During the interaction, most of these fishermen have complained that fishing boats from other States are fishing in the territorial waters of Goa (12 nautical miles from shore). We have instructed our ships to keep vigil on such activities and if they come across any such things then to tackle it. Though we have seen fishing boats from Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra within the 12 nautical miles of Goa, they were only transiting and not fishing,” Coast Guard Commander DIG Manoj Baadkar told to reporters on the sidelines of 41st Coast Guard Raising Day function on Thursday.
