Sandbars pose threat to fisherfolk

Mumbai: The livelihood of fishermen around the coastal villages of Uttan near Bhayandar has been threatened due to the creation of sandbars on the channel connecting the Arabian Sea with the mouth of the estuary of the Bassein creek. Ten members of a fishing crew had a miraculous escape after their boat capsized near the Pali seacoast after hitting a sandbar late on Tuesday night.

The incident has yet again exposed the life-threatening danger lurking in the coastal waters. “Wild weather has been churning up sandbars which act as invisible underwater barriers for the fishermen when they try to enter the sea. If the government authorities fails to tackle the issue at the earliest, the entire fishing industry would be in jeopardy,” said Bernard D’Mello who is the working president of the Akhil Bhartiya Machhimar Kruti Samithi.

The revenue department has marked a departure from its practice of awarding dredging contracts. Conseq-uently, there has been no official dredging activities, since the past couple of years which has led to large-scale accumulation of sand which in turn has created sandbars.

Moreover, with the threat of sand bars intensifying on the Posha Peer Island sea route, fishermen from Vasai, Kochiwada and Naigaon have been traversing on the Uttan segment to enter the sea, further narrowing the space for the proper movement of boats. Meanwhile the boat Blessing which sank on Tuesday night is still submerged as efforts to pull it out proved unsuccessful for the second consecutive day.