NAGPUR, Dec 5: Armed with a motorboat, the State forest department authorities have introduced patrolling in the Totladoh dam area to effectively impose a ban on illegal fishing activities in the reservoir which has its banks on the densely-forested Pench National Wildlife Park.A diesel engine-powered motorboat has been pressed into operation for the past three weeks. By the end of the month, park authorities are hopeful of the arrival of another motorboat from NGOs. Besides the marine patrolling, the park authorities have set up a camp at the Saddle Dam, where a she-elephant, Rupa, will help foresters to patrol inaccessible areas.The reservoir which is situated on the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border, covers 7,000 hectares of land in the heart of Pench National Park. A huge workforce, which had been engaged in the dam construction work, settled around the dam and commenced fishing activities after the work was completed. Before the dam was constructed, there was hardly any fishing activity. Once construction began, seven villages in the forest shifted outside the submergence area of Totladoh reservoir.What was for some of the settlers a means of hand-to-mouth existence, turned out to be a lucrative business. Fish seeds were introduced in large numbers in the reservoir and cultivated by influential traders from Nagpur with the help of local fishermen. Gradually, the yield ran into hundreds of tonnes, attracting more outsiders.Hundreds of fishermen used to fish in the reservoir in the reserve forest. Besides the fishermen, labourers transporting the produce started treading inside the jungle, often setting up camps in the reserved forest area, thereby disturbing the natural movement of wild life in the surrounding forest. The introduction of commercial fish like Rohu and Katla in the reservoir in large quantities every year started destroying the natural habitat of the water birds.
