MARGAO
Vehicles dropping migrant crew at the Cutbona fishing jetty are not uncommon to find at this time of the year ahead of the new fishing season, beginning from August 1. In fact, one could come across workers unloading fishing nets at the jetty and also engaged in the maintenance work onboard the vessels.
Even as the mechanised boat owners were bracing up for the new fishing season, beginning three days from now on August 1, the High Court directions on fishing with LED lights and bull trawling seemed to have become a subject matter of debate at the fishing jetty.
It’s not that all the mechanised fishing vessels have installed generators onboard the vessels. One, however, could understand the anxiety on the minds of the boat owners over the High Court directions, with many boat owners having invested huge amounts of money on generators.
Even as the boat owners from across the State were scheduled to meet later in the day at Verna to deliberate and take stock of the situation against the backdrop of the High Court direction, some of the boat owners wondered what lies in store for them after making huge investment in the generators. “Many a boat owner would not have invested huge money on the gen sets and the lights had the authorities in the past said a firm no initially,” remarked a boat owner.
Sources in the know pointed out that fishing with LED lights had started around half a decade ago, with only a handful of fishing vessels fishing with the lights. Other fishing vessels are believed to have followed suit by investing huge money on generators and lights. If sources are to be believed the cost of generators and LED lights vary depending on the load and quality, but the investment runs into lakhs of rupees.
A boat owner pointed out that gen sets are used for various purposes on board the vessels and not necessarily to power the LED lights. Another boat owner sought to know whether fishing with LED lights is permitted beyond the 12 nautical miles and in international waters.
“We will discuss and deliberate on all these issues at our meeting and decide on the future course of action,” a boat owner added.
