Mangalore: Kerala Boat Seized for Illegal Fishing Operation, 15 Detained
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)
Mangalore, Nov 21: The members of Karnataka Parsin fishermen's association and Mangalore trawl boat fishermen's association on Tuesday November 20 caught hold of an illegal fishing boat along with 15 fishermen and handed them over to Pandeshwar police.
The fishing boat was from another state, and was carrying out fishing operations without any legal documents. There was another boat along with it, but it had valid documents. Both were engaged in catching cuttle fish using illegal methods.
It is learnt that the cuttle fish from two boats was auctioned for Rs 2.5 lac.
One of the trawl boats was owned by Varghese Antony from Varoor, another was owned by Sainaz.
As per the information received, the members of the two associations had called a meeting to discuss about boats which carry out fishing in the vicinities of Mangalore port and catch cuttle fish in an untraditional way.
The meeting began at around 12.30 pm. Meanwhile, the news of the arrival of the boats reached them, and it was found that the boats were from Kochi.
In this regard, a complaint was filed with the fisheries department, coastal guards and at Pandeshwar police station. Representatives of all the three departments arrived and investigated the boat personnel. The personnel did not possess any legal documents of the both. Hence, the police took 15 fishermen into custody. The fishermen were from Volachil in Tamil Nadu.
Nitin Kumar, president of trawl boat fishermen's association, Naveen Bangera, Parsin association president, Harishchandra Mendon, chief secretary among others were present at the meeting.
Malpe Protest
In connection to the arrival of the Kochi boat, Malpe fishermen's association called a meeting and asked the fisheries department to take strict action on the illegal fishing at Mangalore port and on catching cuttle fish in an illegal way. They backed their full support in the protest.
Sources said, earlier a similar kind of protest was made on the boats arriving from other states. Somehow the illegal fishing activity was stopped. Two months ago, the government had passed a law banning use of coconut palm trunk to catch cuttle fish. However, the method is still followed in other states.