Checking docs, not taking free fish: Coast Guard officials

Mangalore Today News Network

Malpe, Nov 02, 2018: The Indian Coast Guard has claimed that the video in which a chopper lowering a bag to take fish was actually a training sortie.The Coast Guard officials said the choppers were involved in practising sortie named ‘Sajag’, which literally means ‘being alert’. During such sessions, documents of fishermen are checked by lowering a bag. 

This is done as there were reports of fishermen from far-off places fishing in Goan waters. Many times, officials have found that the boat owner and the fisherman were not the same person. As a matter of maritime security, the exercise was conducted.

SS Dasila, DIG of Coast Guards, Karnataka, said: “No pilot will risk his life by taking the chopper so low to get free fish, because it’s highly dangerous to do that,” he said.“The fishermen fear that if their identities are revealed, they will face problems from the Coast Guard in the future. There were many boats in the area during that incident,” sources from the fishermen community said.