The trawler owners tried to maximise their profits and embarked on a legal battle. In May 1978, they challenged the Portuguese Act of 1897 in the Judicial Commissioner's Court. In his judgment, Justice Tito Menezes was bad as the act was bad as the state government could not follow an ambivalent policy. He opined that night trawling and fishing during monsoons should stop. Following this, there were sporadic protests, agitations, "morchas" and arrests. The trawlers continued to dredge the bed of the shore as it was 'legal' from their point of view. The trawlers were interested in fishing in fishing within a 2-kilometre zone primarily because this zone was the breeding ground and habitat of most of the species that were demand in the international markets.