PANAJI
As the fishing season draws to a close on June 1 for the annual two-month ban, questions arise whether the State will use this window to finally enforce long-ignored sanitation issues at its jetties and aboard trawlers.
A cholera outbreak at Cutbona jetty last year and related matters closely monitored by the High Court of Bombay at Goa, the State’s busiest jetties and vessels are still without toilets and other basic amenities.
The filth-ridden state of affairs such as open defecation, stagnant water and lack of basic hygiene infrastructure has continued to pose health risks even as the trawlers will soon be docked and workers would leave for their respective States.
The crisis, official sources told The Goan, is not just administrative inaction but alleged criminal negligence in the making.
In September 2024, the Directorate of Fisheries ordered compulsory toilets aboard fishing trawlers, under powers conferred by the Merchant Shipping Act, 2014. Vessels with over 30 crew members were required to install at least two toilets, while those with 15 needed one.
However, sources said that portable toilets were permitted as a compromise -- a quiet modification of the original directive, but even that diluted requirement has seen near-total noncompliance.
“There is no enforcement yet. But it will be done during the two-month fishing ban,” Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar admitted when contacted by The Goan on the issue.
He further acknowledged that several major jetties including Vasco, Malim and Chapora among others still lack basic toilet facilities. He was quick to state that tenders had been floated for construction and upgradation. “Floating jetties at select locations will be made,” Halarnkar added.
Meanwhile, department sources confirmed that enforcement has been more rhetoric than reality. Orders to fisheries officers to inspect vessels for sanitation readiness and deny fishing passes to those non-compliant remain largely on paper.
“There is no comprehensive implementation. The jetty offices are either understaffed or are negligent, and inspections are also irregular,” the official revealed. Sources further stated that the newly constructed trawler boats are however equipped with toilets.
The outbreak of cholera at Cutbona during the fag-end of the monsoon season last year triggered panic, exposing the dangerous sanitation issues both on land and at sea.
The department reissued warnings, asking boat owners to provide liquid soap, safe drinking water and submit daily reports of labourers.
Employers have also been told to immediately report any case of vomiting, diarrhoea, or fever, failure to do so would amount to criminal negligence.
“If a death occurs due to delayed reporting of symptoms, the employer will be held responsible,” the circular signed by Fisheries Director Yashaswini B had stated.
