The forest officers in Kendrapara have sought more armed forces to ensure the safe breeding of Olive Ridley sea turtles in the wake of Friday’s mid-sea gun battle between its patrol team and armed fishermen. One fisherman was injured in the gun battle off the coast of Ekkakula within the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, while crew members of the joint CG-forest patrol vessel had a narrow escape.
“We are shocked at the audacity of trespassing trawls. The extremist character of the intruders may be judged from the fact that they attacked a well-armed Coast Guard ship,” said Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Forest division, DFO, Mr Ajay Kumar Jena.
The department has sought more reinforcement from state police and coast guard. And the fight against the trawl mafia would now be fought with renewed vigour, Mr Jena observed. “A major tragedy has been averted and there could have been human casualties,” he said.
Describing the 24 November mid-sea shoot out incident, the joint CG-forest patrol vessel spotted a fleet of 14 to 15 deep sea trawls fishing unlawfully off prohibited Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.
The patrol vessel chased the trawls while requesting the crew members to surrender by hand set mike. As the improvised CG vessel inched towards the unauthorised trawlers, gun shot was fired from one of the trawl vessels. The joint patrol was forced to fire as an act of self defence. One of the vessels was intercepted and 11 crew members were arrested.
The joint patrol vessel was well armed. Had it not maintained restraint, there would have been heavy bloodshed, he commented. The forest department has made fresh request for more armed police reinforcements for Gahirmatha patrolling. The forest patrol units have so far arrested 64 marine fishermen on unlawful fishing charge and as many as nine improvised fishing vessels worth over Rs one crore were seized since early this month after imposition of fishing ban off the Gahirmatha coast, according to official sources.
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