from daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, Jun 14: The fishing trawlers in Goa will be off the sea June 15 onwards.

Goa, the tiny coastal state with 105-km-long coastline, will implement fishing ban between June 15 to July 31, state fisheries department officials confirmed.

The ban, this time, is curtailed as against the usual ban which used to culminate on August 15, every year.

"The ban is curtailed as per the interim order passed by the supreme court,”  Victor Gonsalves, former president, Mandovi marketing cooperative society, an umbrella institution for over 250 trawlers, stated.

The fishermen community had put up a fight against the long ban during the monsoon, which is imposed to allow fishing breed.

"All the states are enjoying this curtailed ban,” Gonsalves said.

Goa has around 800 trawlers fishing in the Arabian Sea.

The trawler operators confirmed that most of the trawlers are ready off the sea as the monsoon is setting in the coastal state. The highest off-shore casualties are reported during monsoons in this western state.

The state fisheries department has began preparations to seal all the seven fishing jetties in the state.

'The department has also send letters to the oil companies to stop the supply of fuel to the diesel pumps near these jetties during the ban period,” officials stated.

Goa, which exports huge chunk of seafood abroad,  exported 94,000 tonne of fish during the year 2006-2007, as compared to the 1 lakh tonne fish exported from Goa during 2005-2006.

This year the revenue generated through the fish export from the state is Rs 50 crore.