Photo Credits: fishing vessel dropped anchor
Photo caption.
Many a fishing vessel dropped anchor in River Sal, while fish transporting trucks await vessels to return with fish catch at the Cutbona fishing jetty. Santosh Mirajkar
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MARGAO
Mechanised boat owners have complained of bad days of fishing as many a vessel lying anchored in the River Sal and fish transporting trucks parked along the Cutbona fishing jetty for want of good fish catch.
When people expected the mechanised boats to unload tons of King Fish at the jetty this part of the season, many a boat owners pointed out that the last few days have been literally bad for the industry with the vessels either coming back empty handed or with little catch.
When The Goan team visited the Cutbona fishing jetty on Sunday, it found a fleet of trucks parked along the jetty, even as around 40-50 vessels lay anchored in the river. Inquiries revealed that small fishing vessels have returned back with somewhat moderate to little fish catch in the last few days, the worst hit have been the purse seine vessels, with owners complaining of poor catch.
Vice President of Cutbona Boat Owners Union, Roosevelt Alemao said that at least 50-60 purse seine vessels lay anchored at the Cutbona fishing jetty for want of catch. "The time has come to carry out a study over the situation, whether the present situation is due to overfishing or bull trawling by outstation fishing vessels," he said.
Alemao said that vessels have returned with either less or no catch from Goa’s territorial waters in the last few days, adding that vessels have dropped anchor at Vasco and Panaji jetties as well.
Ex-president of the Cutbona Boat Owners Union, Cypriano Cardozo echoed similar sentiments. “Leave alone the King Fish, even sardines are not found in the sea for the moment. Hope things will improve in the coming days," Cypriano said, while keeping his fingers crossed.
Wholesale fish merchant Maulana Ibrahim pointed out that while the wholesalers have managed to get in fish from across the border, fish landing at the Cutbona fishing jetty has been remarkably poor since the last few days.
