Trawler seized, 15 detained in Odisha’s Puri for violating fishing ban

Astarang: With a seven-month ban imposed by the Fisheries Department in three river mouths of the State on Wednesday for the protection of Olive Ridley turtles during mass nesting, a fish trawler was seized from a prohibited area by a team of Astarang forest personnel in Puri district, today.

According to a source, 15 persons have been detained in this connection and are being interrogated. The seized trawler named ‘Mangala’ (registration number IND-OR-01-MM-1075) was handed over to the Marine Fisheries Department at Nuagaon Jetty.

“We have intensified surveillance in the prohibited areas and keeping a strict vigil,” an official said.

Worth mentioning, the areas where the ban has been clamped are the Dhamra river mouth, Devi river mouth, and Rushikulya river mouth. The ban came into force from yesterday and will continue till May 31.

Under the government’s directive, all forms of fishing activities have been strictly prohibited within a 20-kilometer radius of the coast as well as buffer zones close to the river mouths.