Kendrapada: Six marine fishermen were arrested and their fishing trawler was seized with 30 kg of fish by forest officials on Wednesday evening in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary on charges of illegal fishing.
“We seized five trawling nets, one fish finder, one VHF set, one GPS, and one mobile phone from the trawler,” said Manas Das, the forest range officer of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.
Gahirmatha beach being the largest rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtles in the world, govt banned fishing for seven months from Nov 1 to May 31 to save the endangered marine species. “We have seized 27 trawlers and arrested around 180 fishermen on charges of illegally fishing in the sanctuary,” added the forest officer.