CHENNAI: The state has impounded 30 trawler boats and filed chargesheets against 172 more for violating the Tamil Nadu Marine Fishing Regulation Act, according to an affidavit submitted by the state fisheries department before the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The state has intensified its crackdown against trawler boats caught operating in the prohibited zone of five nautical miles from shore.
The move comes after the mass death of Olive Ridley turtles in Chennai, on which the NGT had sought a detailed action taken report. When the matter came up for hearing, the bench, comprising judicial member Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member K Satyagopal, said why Tamil Nadu failed to enforce its own government orders on mandatory use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in trawl nets and prohibit bottom trawling within five nautical miles until hundreds of turtles have died.
The number of turtle carcasses washing ashore in Chennai has fallen drastically following the strict monitoring. Meanwhile, the nesting picked up pace with Besant Nagar hatchery recording 45 nests. Chennai Wildlife Warden Manish Meena said, “So far, 70 nests have been recorded from Pulicat to Kovalam.”
Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Kumar Dogra, who chaired the second special task force meeting on Thursday, said the patrolling has been beefed-up. “Our intention is not to slap cases on fishermen. We request them to follow the law.”
Recently, a trawler boat was caught fishing in the prohibited zone and 17 turtles were entangled in the net. The owner and four others were arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act. The fisheries department uses the transponders fitted in the trawler boats to identify the erring ones.
Meanwhile, sources told TNIE the state government is contemplating supplying TEDs and a first batch would be distributed very shortly.
