QOLIQOLI customary owners are concerned about the safety of fish wardens describing their duties as risky.
In this morning’s Fisheries Forum held in Labasa, Mali district rep Seru Moce told the meeting that in many cases, poachers were better equipped.
“Our fish wardens are usually outnumbered by poachers and they don’t have proper equipment to carry out their duties efficiently,” he said.
“The poachers, usually many of them can easily attack our wardens who are villagers so they are putting their lives at risk.
“The wardens are tasked to protect the qoliqoli from poachers and at the same putting their lives at risk especially when working at night.”
Mr Moce asked the forum organisers and Ministry of Fisheries officials to look into this issue and better equip wardens.
