GUWAHATI, Dec 27: Despite ban on fishing in Deepor Beel, the locals near the wildlife sanctuary are preparing for the annual ritual of community fishing. The week long community fishing will reportedly begin from January 5.
Every year, in the first week of January, hundreds of villagers from the areas around Deepor Beel take part in the community fishing in the Beel to welcome the new year. In the midnight on Jan 4, fishermen on more than five hundred boats will cast their nets to the wetland.
Several environmental organisations have expressed their concerns over the proposed community fishing which they feel would threaten the bio-diversity of Deepor Beel. Meanwhile, Assam forest department has imposed section 144 CrPC under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 prohibiting fishing, excavation and construction around the Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary.
The wildlife sanctuary located at the south-west of Guwahati city is known as a Ramsar site under the Ramsar convention. Every year during winter thousands of migratory birds make the wetland a place of visual retreat for the bird watchers and tourists.
