Coast Guard arrests fishermen for illegal fishing in the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary

Coast Guard personnel have arrested 139 fishermen and have seized 14 seagoing vessels which were engaged in for illegal fishing in the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. Sea fishing is prohibited within the marine sanctuary limits throughout the year.
However, patrolling is increased between November and May because of the mass nesting season of the endangered olive ridley turtles. These turtles enjoy Schedule-1 status under the Wildlife Protection Act. They get entangled in the nets of trawls and vessels for prolonged periods and die of asphyxiation. Moreover, the fast-moving propellers of fishing trawlers strike the turtles and kill them in large numbers.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 30 January 2017.

The arrested fishermen belong to Balaramgadi, Dhamara (in Balasore) and Talchua (in Kendrapara). The Coast Guard also recovered many items of fishing like mono-filament fishing nets, GPS systems, disaster alert transmitters, walkie-talkie communication systems, fish finding gadgets, registration documents of the vessels, identity proof documents of the crews and a haul of three tons of sea fish.
However, none of the vessels had turtle excluder devices installed. These are specialized device through which the trapped sea turtles can escape when caught in fishing nets.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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