MARGAO: Goenchea Rapon karancho Ekvott (GRE), along with other fishing bodies, on Tuesday submit ted a memorandum to the Goa Coastal Zone Manage ment Authority (GCZMA), demanding a minimum three-month extension for filing objections and sug gestions and a complete reworking of the draft Goa Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) prepared by the National Centre for Earth Science Studies. A delegation of GRE and allied fishing bodies met Sachin Desai, Director of Environment and Climate Change and GCZMA chief, at Dempo Towers in Panjim and handed over the mem orandum raising a range of objections to the draft CZMP, particularly the extensive demarcation of port limits. Addressing the media af ter the meeting, GRE gener al secretary Olencio Simoes said the draft CZMP “should be renamed a Construction Regulation Zone rather than a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ),” alleging that the plan prepared by the National Centre for Earth Science Studies has exten sively marked port limits that do not attract No De velopment Zone provisions. He said these port limits have been shown not only on the landward side but also extending up to 12 nautical miles into the sea, defeating the very objective of coastal regulation. Simoes recalled that the CRZ notification, first intro duced in 1991, was intended to conserve and protect the coastal and marine environ ment, ensure livelihood se curity for fishing and coastal communities, and promote scientifically planned sus tainable development while accounting for natural haz ards and sea-level rise. He alleged that the present draft CZMP undermines these ob jectives and opens the door for unchecked development at the cost of ecology and tra ditional livelihoods. GRE and the fishing bodies warned that acceptance of the draft CZMP in its pres ent form would lead to seri ous consequences for Goa’s coastline, including large scale displacement of fishing livelihoods, and would dilute the federal powers of the State. They contended that areas shown under port lim its would no longer effective ly fall under the jurisdiction of panchayats, municipal councils and key State de partments such as Fisheries and CRZ authorities, thereby weakening local governance and State control. GRE President Agnelo Rodrigues strongly criticised what he described as a hur ried and inadequate consul tation process. He demand ed that at least three to six months’ time be provided for public objections and sugges tions and that the draft CZMP be translated into local lan guages to ensure meaningful participation by coastal com munities. Rodrigues also de manded that the entire plan be redone through proper scientific ground-truthing and detailed stakeholder consultations. Warning of strong agita tion if the demands are ig nored, Rodrigues said fish ing communities would be forced to launch a statewide protest. He reminded author ities that fishing organisa tions had played a key role in shaping the CRZ framework and that the Coastal Zone Management Authorities were constituted following Supreme Court intervention in the late 1990s. He warned that the present approach threatened the survival of Goa’s fishing community and said the movement would be intensified if corrective steps were not taken.
