Andhra Pradesh: Conflicts arise between fishermen of two groups in Prakasam district

Conflicts erupted between the villages in the Chirala Mandal overhunting of fish and prawns in the sea. As a result, fishermen from several villages, which were divided into two groups, got into clashes while fishing in the sea, which turned into severe and the clashes escalated as fishermen from one village took their nets and boats of another villager, which turned into a quarrel between the two villages.

With this, cases have been registered against each other in Chirala and Eepurupalem police stations. As the clashes between the villages escalated, the Panchayat District Fisheries Department reached the office of the Joint Director. On Wednesday, fisheries officials and police held a meeting with fishermen from the port village, fishermen from the second category, Katharivaripalem, Ramachandrapuram and Pottisubbayapalem villages, at the Fisheries Joint Director office in Ongole. Authorities have instructed fishermen to refrain from taking boats and nets of others from others.

The fishermen of the respective villages were requested to be reconciled without an atmosphere of conflict. Authorities have determined that the use of nets less than half an inch in size could have created an atmosphere of confrontation as those could lead to the extinction of the fishery. On this, the Joint Director of the Fisheries Department, Aavala Chandrasekhar Reddy, said that he would look into the nets being used in the respective villages and take further action.