Bhubaneswar: The Forest Department has seized a trawler for illegally entering and fishing inside the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, about 7 km from the Ekakula mouth. Seven fishermen on board the trawler have been arrested in this connection.
According to information, a patrolling team of the Forest Department was patrolling the marine sanctuary under the direction of Gahirmatha Range Officer Chitrasen Jena and led by Barunei Forester Deepak Kumar Majhi. The patrolling team caught a trawler named ‘Jai Maa Santoshi-1’ fishing illegally at around 2:25 am.
One GPS, fish finder, VHF, 6 trawling nets and about 4 quintals of fish have been seized from the trawler.
The arrested fishermen have been identified as Muna Mallick, Chakradhar Mallick, Purushottam Mallick, Manmatha Mallick of Baleshwar district, Debabrata Paramanik, Nilakantha Mohanty and Sankarshan Majhi of Raghabpur village under Basta police station.
The Forest Department said the arrested fishermen have been produced before the Kendrapada CJM Court.
