Kendrapada: Forest officials arrested eight marine fishermen and seized the fishing vessel on Thursday night inside Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary in Kendrapada district for illegal fishing.“We seized one GPS, two VHFs, one fish finder and three fishing nets from it. The arrested fishermen were booked under sections 9, 27, 29, 31 and 51 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. On Friday, they were produced in the Kendrapada court. The court rejected their bail applications and remanded them in judicial custody,” said Chitrasen Jena, forest range officer of Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.Marine fishermen have been prohibited from fishing within 20kms kilometres of the coastline in the sanctuary, which covers 1,435 square kilometres of sea from Hukitola to Dhamara. Forest officials demarcated the sanctuary areas last year by placing 14 buoys. The govt declared Gahirmatha a marine sanctuary in 1997 to protect marine turtles, as lakhs of turtles arrive every winter to lay eggs. Gahirmatha beach is the largest sea turtle rookery in the world. To protect the endangered species, the govt has banned all types of fishing for seven months, from Nov 1 to May 31, the forest officer added.