PANAJI
Come June 1, the Fisheries department will seal diesel pumps at jetties around the State as part of the annual 61-day fishing ban. For the interim period, the State will have to depend on fish from neighbouring states as well as frozen fish.
Except for registered motorized canoes that will be allowed to venture out for fishing, hundreds of trawlers will remain suspended from June 1 to July 31. The East coast, as well as Kerala and Maharashtra, will be the areas from where Goa will get most of its stock of fish. Fresh water and pond river fish will also be popular during the monsoons, in addition to dried fish.
Those exempted from the ban include registered motorized canoes fitted with outboard or inboard motors of up to 10 HP capacity as a means of propulsion, and are allowed to fish along the sea coast of the state of Goa and the territorial waters of the state only using gill nets. With the monsoon setting in, these boats will, however, remain off the seas for most of the ban period.
“Though the government has allowed us permission to fish during the ban, the waters are usually rough, so we end up venturing only four or five days out to the sea. During the rest of this period, we fish near shores or in ponds or fresh water bodies,” informed Sanjay Periera, a ramponkar from Curca.
Those with boats shut are forced to shut shop till the season resumes. Despite this shortage, fish is expected to arrive from Orissa and Vishakapatnam. Fisherfolks will also get their stocks from Kerala, Mumbai and Ratnagiri.
According to fishing boat owners, the ban period should be extended to allow for fish to mature sufficiently. Sitakant Parab, president of All Goa Fishing Boat Owners Union, said that having a uniform ban across the Western coastal region will be beneficial.
“Monsoons in Kerala begin earlier than in Goa, while Gujarat is the last to get rains. Therefore, Kerala is the first to impose a fishing ban, somewhere mid-May while Gujarat is the last, around July. In such a scenario, if the entire region is banned from fishing from May through August, the catch in the entire region will be boosted,” he said.
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Except for registered motorized canoes that will be allowed to venture out for fishing, hundreds of trawlers will remain suspended from June 1 to July 31. The East coast, as well as Kerala and Maharashtra, will be the areas from where Goa will get most of its stock of fish.
