Correspondent
PASIGHAT, Sep 25: Indiscriminate fishing in the water bodies of the Siang river close to the Daying Ering Wildlife Sanctuary (DEWS) in East Siang district has come to light after a patrolling team of wildlife staffers intercepted two fishermen on Tuesday evening.
Fishermen use battery inverters to kill fish in open water bodies, thereby indulging in destruction of aquatic ecosystems.
Acting against fishing methods like electrocution, wildlife personnel seized a battery inverter set from the fishermen in Serum village and handed it over to the village’s gaon burah for action.
Wildlife officials say that people from the fringe villages enter the sanctuary on the pretext of fishing in the nearby water bodies, and hunt wild animals instead.
The officials earlier caught a number of people indulging in such illegal activities inside the sanctuary.
They were arrested and remanded in judicial custody.
Divisional Forest Officer (WL) Tasang Taga informed that he has written to the PCCF in Itanagar to deploy more staffers to guard the sanctuary but there has been no action yet on his plea.
“We have dedicated staffers who are working for protection of the wild resources inside the sanctuary, but the people of the fringe villages are not cooperating with them to protect the resources,” the DFO said.
