VASCO: With barely 48 hours remaining for the fishing ban to end, a trawler anchored at the Vasco fishing jetty sank after it collided against an adjacent trawler due to bad sea and weather conditions.
According to trawler owner Piedade Fernandes, his wooden trawler, which was anchored at Vasco fishing jetty, dashed against a metal trawler due to windy weather and rough sea conditions on Wednesday afternoon.
“I had anchored the trawler at the Vasco fishing jetty after carrying out maintenance work and was preparing to venture into the sea for the season’s first catch on August 1,” informed Fernandes.
“Luckily, no labourers were on board the trawler at the time of the mishap and no one was hurt. The extent of damage will not be known unless the trawler is fished out of the water,” he said.
“It will take at least 15 days to repair the trawler and that too, it depends on the nature of damage. I will lose the first few precious days of fishing and the precious catch of solar shrimps,” said Fernandes.
Speaking to Herald, All Goa Fishing Trawlers Owners Association President Sydney Furtado said the Vasco fishing jetty is too small to anchor 175 trawlers. “We can hardly anchor about 14 trawlers at a time, as the jetty is small,” he said.
“A lot is being spent on expansion of other jetties, where there are less number of trawlers to be anchored and the Vasco fishing jetty has to bear with the small jetty which creates a lot of problem to anchor the trawlers,” added Furtado.
“Though the government assured a bigger fishing jetty at Vasco bay, it is to be seen how soon we will get the jetty to anchor our trawlers without causing damage to other trawlers,” he said.
