CUTBONA: Savio D Silva is quite the master of all, as he surveys at the Cutbona jetty near Velim in South Goa. By far the biggest jetty, which houses a large portion of Goas mechanized trawlers many or most of them with LED lights, his role is to strike a balance. As the Sarpanch of Velim, he has the added responsibility to see that no interests are hurt.
Speaking to Team Herald one afternoon at the office of the Cutbund Owners Development Society, he said, “I respect traditional boat owners and understand their concerns. At the same time, if checks have to be done, then fishermen with trawlers several times our size with more power and LED lights have to be stopped.
He was of the view that LED lights are used only for deep-sea fishing.
The Cutbona jetty is full of trawlers of fish traders and big fishermen, essentially those who are in the business of fish. But the narrative, which is emerging from the jetty is that the state should go after the out of state deep sea folks.
Without LED lights this business cannot run
The mechanized trawler owners have another refrain- that to have profitability and earn out of this business, LED lights are needed. One bOat owner clearly said, “98 of those work on our boats are non-Goans. And they don’t even agree to work unless we have LED lights.
Trawler owner Patrick Silva, whose father Santano was a traditional fisherman, laments that the costs of running this business are high “For each trip out at sea 300 litres of diesel and 30 tonnes of ice is needed”. Then the trawlers themselves don’t come cheap.
How can we enter shallow waters, our nets are too big
Responding to the charge of the traditional boat owners that they enter their waters, Patrick Silva quipped, “How can we? Our nets are too big.”
Interestingly, the ban on LED fishing doesn’t seem to have had an impact and or is there any inclination to follow it. It is clear that the defiance of the ban is not just an open secret. It’s an open reality.
