TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: A notification of the Central government on deep-sea fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone has stirred a hornet’s nest amongst the stakeholders in the fishing industry.
Eyebrows are being raised over the notification dated January 18, with members of Marine Products Export Development Authority and seafood exporter Moulana Ibrahim saying the notification, if implemented, will be the last nail in the coffin of the fishing industry.
In his letter, Ibrahim urged the MPEDA Chairman to intervene and prevent the implementation of the notification and save the fishing community and the industry from destruction. He demanded to know whether the Union government had taken an unilateral decision on the issue or that the notification had come after consulting the stakeholder such as MPEDA, Industry and the fishing community.
“The disappearance and the decline of fish production had started since 1980s with the introduction of Chinese deep-sea joint-venture vessels. The situation worsened in the last 2 years when Mangalore, Malpe and Kerala fishermen resorted to bull trawling with Chinese-made high-speed engines ranging from 350 to 600 HP. With these engines they are on rampage from Kanyakumari to Kutch,” he said.
Ibrahim said most of the fishermen along the west coast have realized the deadly effects of this method of fishing and started agitating and protesting. They are also approaching the respective local governments to ban these high-speed trawlers, he said and added, “While fishermen continue to agitate against this destructive way of fishing, the central Government has unfortunately come out with a new policy which has already proved destructive in the 1980s.”
