HC: Strictly stop banned methods to net sea catch

Panaji: The high court on Thursday told the director of fisheries, the Goa coastal police force, and the Coast Guard to strictly enforce the ban on LED fishing, bull trawling, and pair trawling.The division bench, comprising justices M S Karnik and Valmiki Menezes, ordered the directorate of fisheries and Goa coastal police to maintain a dedicated mobile number and an email ID for receiving complaints from the public and to widely publicise the number and the email ID.“The phone number/helpline shall be made available 24 hours a day with a responsible officer monitoring the same, to ensure prompt action in the event of a complaint being received with regard to illegal fishing in any banned operations under the Act or Ban Order 2017,” the HC said. It further directed every complaint to be entered into a register along with a report on the action taken.The HC called for inspections to be carried out on fishing vessels arriving and departing from all six fishing jetties in Goa, as well as at private jetties. The authorities, the HC said, must immediately suspend registrations under the Merchant Shipping Act/Inland Vessels Act along with fishing permits for those conducting such banned fishing operations.The court observed that Goa coastal police have practically no operational interceptor boats and rely on small crafts that are unable to patrol the 100 nautical mile coastline of Goa. Citing this “sorry state of affairs”, the HC directed Goa coastal police and the Goa home department to immediately procure interceptor boats in the shortest possible time to plug this gap.There is “no enforcement machinery worth the name in place to carry out statutory duties cast upon Goa coastal police of enforcement of law within the territory assigned to them,” the HC observed.Goa coastal police at present have only one operational interceptor boat, which has to cover a coastline of 110km and a breadth of 12 nautical miles of the sea, the HC observed. It also pointed out that most coastal police stations are grossly understaffed and that there is a dire need to augment the number of officers and personnel.Panaji: The high court on Thursday told the director of fisheries, the Goa coastal police force, and the Coast Guard to strictly enforce the ban on LED fishing, bull trawling, and pair trawling.The division bench, comprising justices M S Karnik and Valmiki Menezes, ordered the directorate of fisheries and Goa coastal police to maintain a dedicated mobile number and an email ID for receiving complaints from the public and to widely publicise the number and the email ID.“The phone number/helpline shall be made available 24 hours a day with a responsible officer monitoring the same, to ensure prompt action in the event of a complaint being received with regard to illegal fishing in any banned operations under the Act or Ban Order 2017,” the HC said. It further directed every complaint to be entered into a register along with a report on the action taken.The HC called for inspections to be carried out on fishing vessels arriving and departing from all six fishing jetties in Goa, as well as at private jetties. The authorities, the HC said, must immediately suspend registrations under the Merchant Shipping Act/Inland Vessels Act along with fishing permits for those conducting such banned fishing operations.The court observed that Goa coastal police have practically no operational interceptor boats and rely on small crafts that are unable to patrol the 100 nautical mile coastline of Goa. Citing this “sorry state of affairs”, the HC directed Goa coastal police and the Goa home department to immediately procure interceptor boats in the shortest possible time to plug this gap.There is “no enforcement machinery worth the name in place to carry out statutory duties cast upon Goa coastal police of enforcement of law within the territory assigned to them,” the HC observed.Goa coastal police at present have only one operational interceptor boat, which has to cover a coastline of 110km and a breadth of 12 nautical miles of the sea, the HC observed. It also pointed out that most coastal police stations are grossly understaffed and there is a dire need to boost the number of officers and personnel.