With just a week to go for the new fishing season, boat and trawler owners at Vasco are hoping the migrant labourers arrive in time to Goa.
While the All Goa Fishing Boat Owners Association (AGFBOA) president Jose Philip D'Souza said that a prayer ceremony will be held at Old Goa before the commencement of the fishing season, canoe owners leader Custodio D'Souza is hopeful of a very great season ahead.
Jose Philip D'Souza also demanded the government to stress the dilapidated Kharewado jetty.
"We have about a week more to start the fishing season and we have already begun preparation by removing our nets. We have a small issue because our labourers have not arrived from Orissa and Jharkhand. The WRD has now issued orders for maintenance works for our jetty and it will begin and be ready by the time we start our fishing season. We have a small jetty at Kharewado and this leads to fights between boat owners for space," said D'Souza.
"Secondly, we have decided to have a prayer service at Old Goa and offer prayers before we start our fishing season this time. The solar prawns have been spotted and a few boats have already made preparations to catch these shrimps. We feel that the yield of fish will be good this season and we hope that we have a very good fishing season ahead," said D'Souza.
Traditional and canoe boat owners leader Custodio D'Souza said that the cyclones and weather had been very favourable for a good yield of fish this year
"We will start our season on August 1, but we are facing a major issue with the labourers who come from Bihar, Jharkand and even Orissa. We have seen that there had been a train accident and some parts of Orissa are flooded and the labourers are caught up. We have made them all the advance payments but we will be helpless without these workers and hope they reach Goa on time," Custodio said.
"We have seen that there have been a series of cyclones and strong winds which usually favours a very good yield of fish. We are hopeful that we will get a very good season of fishing this year and we only are waiting for our workers to set off for the new fishing season," Custodio added.
