There were scuffles between the fishermen operating deep sea trawl boats and the fishermen operating purse seine boats in front of the Fisheries Department Office at the Malpe Fisheries Harbour here on Tuesday.
The deep sea trawl boat fishermen were staging a protest in front of the Fisheries Department Office after closing the gate of the harbour.
They were protesting against what they termed unscientific fishing practices, including fishing using lights by the purse seine boat fishermen.
In the meantime, the purse seine boat fishermen who came there objected to the closure of the gate to the harbour.
This led to heated arguments between leaders of the two groups and there were scuffles between the two groups.
The police then intervened and brought the situation under control. There were then heated arguments between the police and the purse seine fishermen.
Meanwhile, the deep sea trawl boat fishermen took Deputy Director of Fisheries Parshwanath to task. They charged him with not taking action against purse seine boats which were violating the rules.
Deputy Superintendent of Police T.R. Jaishankar urged the fishermen of both the groups to solve their problems within the ambit of their own associations. But the fishermen got angry and shouted slogans against the police. Mr. Jaishankar warned them of action if they breached the law.
Meanwhile, speaking to presspersons, Mr. Parshwanath said that diesel supply to 47 purse seine boats had been stopped for violating rules regarding fishing. The generators from 12 boats had been removed, he said.
