KARWAR: Despite several complaints, the sand quarry and illegal night fishing at Karwar’s Ladies beach continues unabated off the coast. The local fishermen are now up in arms demanding immediate action against the fishing boats which come from neighbouring states.
The illegal night fishing, or jiggling, which was a huge matter of concern has now aggravated due to lack of security checks.
The local fishermen are helpless as their counterparts from neighbouring states are being supported by other fishermen in such illegal activities.
Expressing their concerns, locals are now demanding immediate action against boats involved in illegal activities.
With the threat of fish famine looming large, the local fishermen say that they do not indulge in jiggling as it is against the nature and plastic is used to fish the squid and cuttle fish.
"They use some plant and they make an artificial anchor with sand. The fish then breed to this anchor," said a fisherman from Baithkol Vinayak Harikanthra.
"The eggs of this fish are greasy and stick on the leaves and twigs. The fish will be around this anchor and they end up in nets," explained Assistant Professor Shivakumar Haragi of department of Marine Biology in Karnataka University Dharwad.
"The eggs are like a bunch of grapes," he added.
The fishermen, according to Vinayak Harikanthra, have been collecting sand from Hembala beach, also known as Ladies beach.
"The beach is hardly 100 meters wide and is far from human habitation. Concealed by a mountain, the beach has been vulnerable for sand quarrying," he said.
He added that though the Karnataka department of fisheries has banned the night fishing, it has not banned catching of these two fish, which are fast going extinct.
When the issue was brought to the notice of the state fisheries department, it was said that they do not have human resources to deal with such violations. However, they said guard have been alerted about the violations at the beach.
Deputy Commissioner Uttara Kannada district K Harish Kumar said that he will soon take steps to protect the Ladies beach and develop it.