KENDRAPARA: Forest personnel on Tuesday arrested 19 fishermen for fishing illegally inside Gahirmatha marine sanctuary within Bhitarkanika National Park.
Apart from two fishing trawlers, GPS and VHF sets, 10 trawling nets, 11 gill nets and around 40 kg of fish were seized from the fishermen.
Gahirmatha range officer Chitrasen Jena said a forest team carrying out routine patrol spotted the two trawlers engaged in fishing around 4 km from Madeli mouth.
“The team intercepted the trawlers and asked the fishermen to produce documents or permission for entering the protected area and carrying out fishing activities. However, they reportedly failed to produce valid papers authorising their entry for fishing inside the sanctuary,” said Jena.
Notably, fishermen have been prohibited from fishing within 20 km of the coastline in the marine sanctuary area, which covers 1,435 sq km of sea from Hukitola to Dhamara. The government has banned all types of fishing in the area throughout the year to protect the endangered Olive Ridley turtles.
