KENDRAPARA: Forest officials arrested 12 persons from West Bengal on the charge of illegally fishing in the sea at Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary here on Wednesday.
The arrested fishermen are residents of Shankarpur village within Mandhramahi police limits in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal. Their fishing trawler was also seized.
Range officer of the sanctuary Pradosh Moharana said the arrested fishermen were booked under the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. They were produced in court at Rajnagar and remanded in judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.
Marine fishermen have been directed not to fish within 20 km radius from the coastline of Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary covering 1,435 sq km from Hukitola to Dhamara. The government has banned all types of fishing from November 1 to May 31 to protect the endangered Olive Ridley turtles which come to Gahiramatha coast for laying eggs every winter. Forest guards have been deployed to arrest fishermen violating the ban, informed Moharana.
“We have set up 16 camps including two offshore ones at Madali and Babubali islands to protect the turtles in the marine sanctuary. Personnel of marine police stations at Jamboo, Talachua and Paradip besides the coast guards will help the forest officials to prevent illegal fishing this year,” added the officer.