Fishermen stir against LED fishing crippling casino industry

Panaji, May 12: The off shore casino industry in Goa has come to a halt since the last two days as fishermen continued to block channels in Mandovi river here by anchoring their trawlers in the waters, demanding immediate ban on use of LED lights for fishing.

The agitation by fishermen which started yesterday morning was withdrawn following a circular by the state government banning LED lights.

But leaders of fishing community began agitating again late last evening after their talks with Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on implementation of the ban failed.

"The off shore casino industry has come to a halt since the fishermen have taken charge of feeder boats and jetties," Srinivas Naik, Director, Casino Pride troop which operates two off shore casino vessels in river Mandovi said.

He said the fishermen were requested to allow feeder boats to ply as they take customers from jetties to the off shore vessels.

"But they (fishermen) have refused to budge an inch. We have filed a formal complaint with the state government but police too have failed to give us relief," he said.

"There were some crisis moments yesterday when customers who were in the ship couldn't come out due to protests and they missed their flight," he said. Goa has four off shore casino vessels plying in river Mandovi.

PTI