Traditional fishermen have all parked their country made fishing boats and nets on the shore at Benaulim for want of dedicated parking space.
MARGAO
As curtains are all set to come down on the fishing season, with the fishing ban just few days away, it’s time of the year when traditional fishermen brace up to anchor their country made fishing vessels and nets ashore.
Welcome to Benaulim, where one would come across a host of country made fishing crafts found anchored on the shore, but the same old issue of lack of dedicated space to park vessels has come to haunt the traditional fishermen.
The long-pending demand of the traditional fishermen from Benaulim before the government to allot the community a small parcel of land at the fisheries department owned land in the village has found no favour with the fisheries department till date.
In fact, the fisheries department has rejected the request of the traditional fishermen to hand over land admeasuring 5,000 square metres at the fisheries owned land at Benaulim saying the department needs the land for development.
The fisheries department’s stand, fishermen say, runs contrary to the promise handed out by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who had assured to address the requirements of the local fishing community.
Benaulim-based traditional fisherman Pele Fernandes said the traditional fishermen are facing the prospects of their country-made fishing canoes and nets being destroyed and washed away during the monsoons for want of dedicated space for anchoring of the vessels.
“How can the fisheries department say no to our plea when we fishermen are the fishing stakeholders and the first priority ought to have been given to the local community’, he said, while his attention was drawn to report that the Fisheries department has drawn up plans to rope in private players to reopen the shrimp farm at Benaulim under the Public private Partnership (PPP) mode.
He warned that the traditional fishermen from Benaulim will never allow the Fisheries department to hand over the prime land to the private players under the guise of reviving the defunct shrimp farm under the PPP mode.
“How can the fisheries department ever think about handing over the land in Benaulim to private players when the Niz Goemkar fishermen are facing difficulties in parking their country made boats for want of space. We will not back out till the fisheries department accede to our demand for dedicated space inside the defunct prawn hatchery land”, he warned.
Another resident of Benaulim Antonio Fernandes called for providing dedicated parking space for fishing vessels of the local traditional fishermen. “The government should provide the dedicated space for the local fishermen which will go a long way in promoting fishing activities’, he said.
