Fishermen in Maharashtra’s coastal regions have earned Rs 40.78 lakh in compensation over the previous three years for safely releasing 260 endangered marine species, including Olive Ridley and green sea turtles, that were mistakenly caught in their fishing nets, an official release has said. This compensation is being provided as part of a scheme initiated in December 2018 by the state forest and fisheries departments, which is aimed at conserving rare and protected marine animals, it said.
138 Olive Ridley turtles, 67 green sea turtles, 5 hawksbill turtles, two leatherback sea turtles, 37 deer sharks, six gigantic guitar fish, humpback dolphins, and four finless porpoises have all been released into the sea thus far, according to the report. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Thursday that the Mangrove Cell (Kandalvan Pratishthan) has paid Rs 40.78 lakh in compensation to fishermen who released the marine creatures back into the sea, claiming that the damage to their fishing nets was caused by the marine creatures.
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