After a group of villagers posted a large Goonch fish from the Ramganga river with pictures and video clips of the caught fish going viral on social media, the State forest department has initiated action to lodge a case against those involved. The Goonch (devil catfish) is listed as a schedule I animal and its poaching can also lead to a conviction of five to seven years imprisonment.
According to sources, on Sunday, four persons caught a Goonch in the Ramganga river at Inola village in Almora district. The fish was estimated to be about six feet long and reportedly weighed about 130 kilogrammes. Photographs and video clips of men carrying the fish in the village after trapping it went viral on the social media. The large dimensions of the fish further spread the news of the incident. As the men brought the fish to the village, a large number of people gathered to glimpse the large animal. The old locals stated that such a large fish is rarely seen nowadays. On Tuesday, the forest department sent a team to the village to initiate action against those involved in the illegal activity. The Almora divisional forest officer SR Prajapati informed The Pioneer that a departmental team had reached the village and would book the four men chiefly involved in poaching the large catfish. He said that the four would be booked under the Wildlife Protection Act. Observers point out that this incident has also elicited focus on the indiscriminate poaching of fishes and other aquatic fauna being carried out in different parts of the state.
Found in the Ramganga, Kali and Sharda rivers in parts of Uttarakhand and neighbouring Nepal, the Goonch is known to attain a large size of about six feet in length.