Despite repeated pleas by fishermen, govt has failed to build a breakwater; hostile conditions pose major threat for resumption of fishing operations; sanitation issues are finally being addressed post-cholera outbreak at Cutbona
File photo of fishing vessels struggling to venture out in the sea from the Cutbona fishing jetty due to the hostile navigation conditions at the River Sal mouth at Betul.
MARGAO
As curtains have finally come down on the fishing season, the issue of sanitation at the State’s largest fishing hub – the Cutbona fishing jetty is finally getting redressed post-cholera outbreak, with the execution of the decade-old 50-seater toilet block project at the jetty.
The long-pending navigation issue plaguing the fishermen at the mouth of River Sal due to the hostile conditions have come back to haunt the fishing stakeholders and the Fisheries Department.
A visit to the Cutbona fishing jetty showed the fishing boats have dropped anchor in the River Sal along the Cutbona-Betul river stretch. Boat owners operating from Cutbona jetty and the small and traditional fishermen inhabiting the fishing hamlet of Betul-Bapsora belt, however, find themselves at sea, as they raised the same old question whether they will be able to commence the new fishing season on August 1 after the 61-day fishing ban with no solution forthcoming to address the hostile navigation conditions plaguing the River Sal mouth, where the river meets the Arabian Sea.
Post-cholera outbreak, the Cutbona fishing jetty has been rid of the scrap vessels and damaged fishing nets. Work on 50-seater toilet block at the Cutbona fisheries complex is nearing completion, but boat owners lament that the government has not shown the same zeal and taken proactive steps to build the promised training wall/ break water facility at the River Sal mouth.
Former President of the Cutbona Boat Owners Union Cypriano Cardozo said the government has failed to honour its promise to put in place a breakwater facility at the River Sal mouth at Betul. “In the absence of the break water facility, fishermen have to totally depend on the tidal conditions to venture out for fishing and return back to the jetty with the fish catch,” Cardozo said.
He added: “We are left at the mercy of the hostile navigation conditions at the River Sal mouth for days together, fishermen cannot go out in the sea and cannot return back with the catch because of the adverse conditions at the river mouth.”
Chairman of the Cutbona Fisheries Society Savio D’Silva wondered why the government is dilly-dallying on the break water facility by constructing a training wall at the River Sal mouth. “We find it surprising that the government is going slow with the proposal to build the training wall/ break water facility when the National Green Tribunal had given the go-ahead signal after obtaining the Environment Clearance (EC). The boat owners are tired of the Fisheries Department explaining that the department has applied for the EC,” he said.
At the height of the cholera outbreak at the Cutbona jetty last season, Salcete lone Minister, Aleixo Sequeira, who was drafted by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to clean-up the jetty of the mess, had promised to take up the issue of break water facility and the delayed EC for the project after a delegation led by Cavelossim Sarpanch Dixon Vaz petitioned to revive the long-pending project.
Training wall project stalled over lack of EC
