Panaji: The National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) is launching a countrywide campaign from March 1, 2019 against the Sagarmala project and will go to all coastal states on the eastern and western coasts to protect the water bodies and fish workers. This decision was reached at a NFF two-day office bearers meeting in Chennai recently.
Olencio Simoes, NFF Vice-Chairperson said that the DG, Shipping had proposed establishing a shipping corridor off the south-west coast of India to prevent collision incidents between merchant ships and fishing vessels. The proposed lanes under consideration would be located at 90 nautical miles distance west off Mangalore and ending 40 nautical miles south off Kanyakumari, he said, adding that no feasibility studies in this regard to fisherfolks’ livelihood and environmental impact had been done by government which had not also discussed this with the fishing community.
He said main fishing grounds would be lost as 86% of fish are found in the area where majority of the fishing activities occur for mechanized and non-mechanised fishing boats. The NFF urged for a comprehensive Coastal Regulation Zone Act that would protect the livelihood of fisherfolk and also the marine ecology in consultation with the fishing community, he said.
The Government’s new Draft National Policy on maritime 2018 has mooted marine culture zones by demarcating special areas seawide for activities like cage farming, bivalve farming, pen culture, seaweed culture, hatcheries and nurseries, besides leasing special zones to private entities to cultivate marine organisms in an enclosure in open seas, he said, adding that NFF condemns this as it would lead to entry of corporates into this sector and loss of fisherfolks livelihood.
The NFF also demanded that the Central Government declare the Cyclone Gaja 2018 as a ‘severe magnitude disaster’ with adequate compensation for the cyclone-affected communities and restoring livelihood options with the utmost urgency being priority of both the Central and State Governments.
Meanwhile, The Goa Government s contemplating allowing small boat fisherfolks from Maharashtra-Goa-Karnataka borders yo import fish into the State. canoe-bound fishermen catch fish fish in their small boats close to shore and bring it for sale within an hour to Goa. We will examine their request for bringing their fish into Goa, and discuss it with the relevant authorities, said Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane,adding that the ban of import of fish — which was imported without compliance with FDA guidelines -, would continue.
