Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 14: All state officials are put on alert in deference to a Central communiqué to the state government seeking a ban on fishing in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) beyond territorial waters on the East Coast from April 15 to June 14.
Sources in the department of Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (F & ARD) have indicated the department secretary Bishnupada Sethi has directed all concerned state officials in this regard.
As per indications, the Centre has directed the states against allowing fishing vessels in the deep sea or the EEZ which extends up to 200 nautical miles off the coast beyond territorial waters in the east.
Notably, Fisheries Ministers from Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa, Maharashtra, Goa and West Bengal and representatives from Tamil Nadu and Adaman and Nicobar met Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh in March in New Delhi, following which Singh had stated that most coastal states had consented to extend the fishing ban period to 61 days to enable fish breeding.
Sources further revealed that the move was taken up for conservation and effective management of fisheries resources.
Official Sources said the uniform ban on fishing will be clamped from June 1 to July 31 in the West Coast of the country. Meanwhile, the Coast Guards and state marine police are likely to be drafted for thorough vigil along the coast to implement the fishing ban.
However, large-scale vacancies in Marine police department raise doubts over its proper implementation. Of the 18 marine police stations in the state, nine are operational now and one has been opened recently at Talasari. Hence the existing marine police stations are located at Balaramgadi, Dhamra, Jamboo, Paradip, Aryapalli, Kasafal, Talchua, Sonapur and Penthakata in addition to Talasari. However, 623 out of 729 sanctioned posts in nine marine police stations in the state are vacant, sources said.
Marine police stations set up at Chudamani, Kasia, Tantiapal, Jatadharimuhan, Bandar, Astaranga, Arakhakuda and Chandrabhaga are yet to become fully operational.
