‘Light fishing’ goes unchecked in UK dist

KARWAR: Notwithstanding the government order prohibiting ‘light fishing’ within a 12-mile radius of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the sea, the practice continues unabated with fishermen using inverters in the restricted zone. Light fishing is a practice that involves use of bright lights to draw fish to the mid sea at night, and trapping them in a huge net.
Deputy commissioner of the department of fisheries, Uttara Kannada district, P Nagaraj said that, besides light fishing, bull-trawl fishing and employment of plastic to lure fish, had been banned on the sea. “Fishermen found to be violating the government orders stand to lose the licence of their boats permanently. We will also withhold the subsidy they are entitled to for kerosene. Fishermen also need to bear in mind that carrying inverters and additional batteries on mechanised boats was banned,” Nagaraj added.

However, reports of these rules being violated are commonplace. Narayan Harikantra, a fisherman, said that before the government imposing a ban on carrying inverters to the sea, owners of mechanised boats carried generators to run bright lights to draw fish. “Now, these owners have found new ways to hoodwink the authorities. They have resorted to usie of inverters to operate their lights,” Harikantra said.

Another fisherman Ganapathi said that inverters were easier to ferry to sea than generators since they were smaller and lighter. “It is difficult to conceal powerful generators on mechanised boats, since the authorities can detect it easily and seize it. But, that is not the case with inverters, which can be hidden easily,” Ganapathi said.

Officials in the fisheries department said that the use of inverters for light fishing had not come to their notice yet. “Coast Guard authorities conduct mid-sea raids and when violations are found, they seize the boats and hand it over to us. Shortage of staff is a huge hurdle to enforcement of rules,” an official in the department said.