Faced with reducing fish catches what scientists have described as a ‘fish famine’, Goa is seeking a push for a longer 75-day ban uniformly all along the west coast of India. Goa’s fisheries secretary Amjad Tak, told The Pioneer that the demand will be placed in forthcoming meeting of officials and Ministers from coastal States scheduled to be held in New Delhi next month.
“We will raise the issue of the uniform fishing ban for 75 days across all coastal States, so that the fish are allowed to reproduce and multiply,” Tak said.
Currently Goa follows a 60-day fishing ban during June. The ban coincides with the start of the monsoon and serves the dual purpose of allowing fish to breed as well as protecting fishermen from the rough seas.
On the other hand, neighbouring Karnatala bans fishing for 61 days during the monsoons, when fish breed on days that do not coincide with Goa’s leading to fish poaching in other waters.
Incidents in the past have seen Goa seizing Karnataka and Maharashtra based trawlers and confiscating their fish. The shortage of catches has prompted the government to consider a new State-managed scheme which involved sale of subsidised fish from door to door, in order to temper the high cost of fish, that has also been blamed on middlemen. Fish is a staple part of the Goan diet and a cheap source of proteins. Tak also said that the Goa would seek strict enforcement of speed and power of trawlers.
High powered trawlers are used in the illegal bull trawling, a method which is known to catch everything in its net including endangered turtles besides also destroying fish nests on the sea bed.
Bull trawling, done with fine-mesh nets, even drags small baby fish and prawns which denies them the opportunity to breed and multiply in number, causing shortage of fish in the long-term.
Tak said that marine norms mandate only up to 300 BHP engines, but several trawlers roam the seas with much powerful engines.
“We are seeking regularisation of trawler engine power,” he said. Over-fishing and pollution are creating a fish-famine like condition in Goa, resulted in poor catches and fish prices reaching abnormally high prices.