Mumbai: The state government is going to penalise fishermen who carry out fishing using LED lights in Maharashtra waters, as per a recent state notification. According to the government resolution (GR), the licence and registration of vessels found using LED lights to attract fish will be cancelled.
The notification has highlighted that the use of LED in fishing was banned earlier in 2016 but the same continued to be used rampantly, posing a threat to marine life.
“Apart from the cancellation of licences, any fishing vessel found to be using illegal means like LED lights will be seized and monetary penalty around five times the cost of its fish catch at the time of seizure will be imposed,” said an official from the fisheries department.
The GR comes in the wake of a huge brawl between bull and LED trawlers, and traditional fishermen along the Alibaug coast on November 15.
Injured traditional fishermen had complained to the fisheries department, following which, the decision to ban LED was taken by the fisheries department Monday.
“In this brawl, at least five fishermen were fatally injured. Traditional fishermen demanded the filing of criminal complaints against the LED trawlers involved in the brawl,” said Damodar Tandel, president of the Akhil Maharashtra Macchimar Kruti Samiti.
In any case, fishermen from Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Palghar and Mumbai had been complaining to the fisheries department, urging it to crackdown on LED trawlers that were attracting large amounts of fish through LED lights. The fishermen had been claiming that such practices were affecting their livelihoods, especially those of smaller fishermen.
Mr Tandel added, “The fishing areas get dominated by LED fishermen who overfish and catch a lot of fish like Pomfret and Mackerel that fetch a good price. Since the traditional fishermen have limited sources, they face losses due to depletion of fish catch.”
Ganesh Nakhwa, president, Maharashtra Purse Seine Net Fishermen Welfare Association said, “We will take out thousand boats and catch different boats of Gujarat, K-erala and Tamil Nadu an-d Chinese trawlers which fish in our areas. Will the fisheries department take action against them? Overfishing by other states, climate change and cyclones due to which fish catch has been impacted. Government has done nothing to compensate and is targeting us.”
