East Godavari Konaseema Suspend Bobbarlanka Shrimp Seed Lease

East Godavari district joint collector Y Mega Swaroop and Konaseema district joint collector T Nishanthi convened a meeting with officials of the water resources, fisheries, and survey and land records departments at Amalapuram on Tuesday.

The meeting reviewed the dispute between fishermen of Dowleswaram in East Godavari district and Bobbarlanka in Konaseema district over shrimp seed collection, which has been continuing for the past two decades.

The joint collectors directed officials to submit detailed reports by December 30, noting that the issue required serious attention in view of court orders, following a petition filed by the Dowleswaram Fisheries Cooperative Society regarding lease rights.

Officials explained that, as per the report of a recently appointed joint committee, the Bobbarlanka fishermen were yet to be registered as a separate cooperative society. They also stated that the Dowleswaram society was collecting two varieties of shrimp seed from leakage waters of barrage gates and supplying them to Telangana and Karnataka.

It was noted that the Dowleswaram society collects seed from 70 barrage gates, while Bobbarlanka fishermen collect from 43 gates during the November–February season. The joint collectors instructed fisheries and cooperative department officials to encourage Bobbarlanka fishermen to form a cooperative society. Until then, their lease would remain suspended and seed collection would not be permitted.

They further said that any damage or threat to the Dowleswaram barrage due to seed collection should be immediately reported by the water resources department. In case of damage to the barrage ecosystem, losses would be recovered from the concerned societies.

Fisheries department officials P.V. Srinivasa Rao and T. Sumalatha, survey and land records assistant director Prabhakar, and others were present.