Govt sends proposal to Law Dept for vetting
MARGAO
With traditional fishermen and small boat owners from across Goa joining the chorus against fishing with LED lights, the government is mulling a ban on the fishing technique used by the fishing vessels.
Sources in the know said the government proposal to ban fishing with LED lights has gone to the Law Department for vetting and a notification to this effect is expected to be issued no sooner it receives the green signal.
When The Goan called up Fisheries Director, Dr Shamila Monteiro to comment on the grievances of the traditional fishermen, she said the process of getting the fishing technique banned has already been set in motion. “It may take a few days for the department to come out with a notification banning fishing with LED lights”, she said, adding that the department is closely following the issue.
Fisheries Minister, Avertano Furtado said the government would come out with some action within the next few days, while saying that the department will initiate the action as per law. Avertano’s statement assumes significance after a group of traditional fishermen from Betul had come to meet him at his office on Monday, but the meeting was postponed to Tuesday for want of the minister.
Incidentally, the Fisheries Director on March 23 had issued a notification to the fishing cooperative societies across the State, directing members to remove all such installations within one week, failing which she had threatened to initiate action against the vessel owners.
The fisheries director had drawn attention of the fisheries societies to the State government notification dated 1981 prohibiting fishing with mechanised vessels from 7 pm to 5 am in the specified area. “As per the order, the night fishing is already banned in the territorial waters of Goa upto 12 nautical miles of the state of Goa and as such the use of LED lights is illegal”, Monteiro had stated.
The purse seine Boat Owners Development Society, however, had challenged the Fisheries Director’s notice, saying the fisheries director is not authorised to ban fishing with LED lights under the existing law in force.
