Fishing season opens, but will gain steam in 10 days

PANAJI: The mandatory 61-day fishing ban in the state came to an end on Tuesday night following which the fishing season officially opened on Wednesday. However, trawler owners’ in North Goa said it would be at least another 10 days before operations started full swing even as South Goa’s fishing fleet were eager to begin the season. Among other reasons, fishermen cited the formalin in fish scare, which is still fresh in people’s minds, as a reason for the delayed start.
“Not a single boat from the Malim jetty will venture into the seas on August 1. For now, only fish caught by canoes will be available at markets,” co-director Mandovi Fishermen Marketing Cooperative Society Ltd Menino Afonso said, adding that as crew members and other workers have not yet returned from their native places, it will be 10 days before fishing activities start full swing.

Stating that they will not be taking their boats out into the sea owing to unfavourable conditions, chairman, Chapora Boat Owners Fisheries Cooperative Society Ltd Balbhim Malvankar said, “Besides, there is currently no chance for us to move our trawlers due to sandbars blocking the Chapora.”

Malvankar said the fisheries minister had not come to meet them ahead of the season to check whether there were any roadblocks. “At least the chief minister should come to our aid or the fishing industry will suffer,” he said.

Trawler owners were also not keen on resuming operations immediately owing to the formalin in fish scare. “The formalin issue has affected our industry even though Goan fishermen are not involved in it. The situation will take time to normalise and it can be a few more weeks before people feel it’s safe to eat fish,” Afonso said.

Things, however, were looking up in South Goa with most of the fishing fleet eager to venture into the seas.

About 10 boats will leave the Vasco jetty at midnight on Tuesday and more are expected to leave after 8am, said Augusto Fernandes, a trawler owner from Vasco.

“About 75% of our boats are ready to go and we shall hopefully net our first catch of the season in a day or two. We are expecting to catch a variety of fish, especially mackerels,” he said.

A trawler owner from Cutbona Sebastiao Cardozo said that around 70 of the 200 boats will venture into the seas from the Cutbona jetty on Wednesday morning.

“Most workers from Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarhhave have arrived. Weather conditions may restrict us, keeping us mostly to the coast. Yet, we can bring shrimps and mackerels on the same day for sale in the markets,” Cardozo said.

With an objective to conserve marine wealth during their natural breeding season, the annual fishing ban of 61 days came into effect from June 1 and ended on July 31.