Nine marine fishers nabbed from Odisha’s Gahirmatha turtle habitat

Bhubaneswar, Aug 26 (UNI) The forest officials today arrested nine marine fishermen and seized their sea-worthy fishing trawl from the sea water of the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary of Kendrapara district on the charges of illegally fishing within the turtle congregation zone, an official said.

The fishing trawl, used by the intruders for fishing along the prohibited sanctuary area, was seized by the forest patrol teams.

The intruders who were arrested are the marine fishermen of Bhadrak and Balasore districts. They were later remanded to judicial custody, said Assistant Conservator of Forest, Manas Das.

The fishing vessel had trespassed into prohibited sanctuary corridors near the Barunei coast, contravening the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act and mandatory rules of marine sanctuary, added the forest officer.

It should be noted here that the state government has clamped a seven month log trawl fishing ban along the 20 km stretch of the Dhamara-Devi river mouth from November 1 till May 31 in view of the ensuing mass nesting of endangered Olive Ridley marine turtles.

However the fishing prohibition remains enforced round the year in Gahirmatha as it is accorded
the status of marine sanctuary. The mute species, accorded as schedule-1 animal under wildlife protection act for its highly threatened status, get entangled in the nets for prolonged periods and
die of asphyxiation.
The turtles also perish in large numbers after getting hit by the fast moving propeller of the fishing trawlers, forest personnel said.