Team Herald
VASCO: The National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) on Tuesday held a national protest at all coastal States of the country.
In Goa, Goenchea Raponkarancho Ekvott (GRE), the affiliated union of NFF joined the protests and submitted a memorandum to Department of Fisheries demanding the government rolls back its anti-coast development policies.
Olencio Simoes, vice chairperson of NFF, lamented that the Central government in its interim budget created space for a Department of Fisheries, but unfortunately even after setting up of a different ministry, the government is not consulting the small scale fishermen of India.
He then referred to coastal projects such as Sagarmala, which is focused on port-led development to effectively harness the potential of India’s long coastline. However, he said this project is a threat to the existence of fishing communities and their livelihoods.
“The Sagarmala stands to serve and generate profits only for the corporate sector. NFF demands that the Sagarmala needs serious National assessment, as the economic corridors and zones, smart cities, coastal investment regions are all a part of the larger plan for industrialisation, which will destroy India’s vulnerable coastline,” added Simoes.
NFF further mentioned that The Mariculture Policy and the National Marine Fisheries Regulation and Management Bill 2019 should be done only in consultation with the traditional fishermen of India as this polices in present form will eliminate all the traditional fishermen who are fishing within five nautical miles.
“The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2019, Blue Flag Certification, Nationalisation of rivers, marina is all for privatising the coast and waters of India, thereby destroying the coastal environment and ecology which in turn will destroy the livelihoods of several millions of fishing community, who are carrying on their traditional activities for several centuries,” claimed the NFF.
Agnelo Rodrigues, president of GRE, also stated that LED lights fishing and Malpe boats who carry out bull trawling is further reducing their daily catch. He warned that if this continues, they will be forced to quit our profession. Therefore, he demanded that immediate action be initiated and all other coastal projects be withdrawn specially in the State of Goa.
