Udupi: The purse seine boats from Malpe Fisheries Harbour are allegedly using submerged artificial lights/LED lights for catching fish that could result in a decline in the fish production.
Addressing media persons at the Udupi Press club on December 19, Kishore Das Suvarna, President of the Fishermen’s Deep Sea Trawl Boat Association, Malpe said that there was a rule banning purse seine boats from fishing using lights off the Malpe Coast which could damage the fingerlings. Both state and union governments had on 25 March, 2017 and 10 November 2017 respectively, prohibited fishing in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone by bull or pair trawling. They also prohibited the use or installation or operation of surface or submerged artificial lights/LED lights, fish light attractors or any other light equipment with or without generators on mechanised fishing vessels or motorised fishing craft for trawling, purse seining or gill netting operations in the Indian EEZ beyond territorial waters.
The union government had advised the states, union territories and coast guards to take necessary steps to prevent use of LED light fishing within and beyond territorial waters.
He alleged that fishing was carried out deliberately under the instructions from Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports. When the matter of illegal fishing was brought to the notice of Fisheries Department it simply ignored the complaint, he rued.
The association also brought the matter to the notice of Minister Pramod Madhwaraj, but he too neglected the issue, he added. Asking why Pramod Madhwaraj being from the same community, was not interested to solve the problems of fishermen, he said that the minster did so because he thinks the coastal belt of Udupi constituency did not support him in the last elections.
Association office bearers Raviraj Suvarna, Bhuvanesh Kotian, Karunakar Salian and others were present during the press meet.
