Kerala - Kollam   

Fish-workers national campaign reaches Kollam

Coastal march: The Kutch-Kanyakumari-Kolkata campaign of the National Fish-workers Forum passing through Kollam on Thursday.

KOLLAM: The Kutch-Kanyakumari-Kolkata vehicle campaign of the National Fish-workers Forum (NFF) to garner support for the Parliament march of fish-workers in July reached Kollam on Thursday.

The campaign that began on May 1 from Kutch will reach Kolkatta on June 27 after covering the entire coastal belt of the country.

NFF chairman Harikrishna Debnath who leads the campaign said that the Parliament march was in protest against the move to replace the 1991 Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification with the Coastal Zone Management notification. He alleged that the basic intention behind the move was to sell the coastal areas for commercial plunder.

Addressing the campaign at Vady Junction here, NFF activist and former Tourism Minister of Goa Mathani Saldhana said that there had never been any attempt from the government side to garner the strength of the fishing community in managing coastal resources. On the contrary, there had been a systematic effort to shut off this community from any meaningful participation in coastal management.

He said that the CZM notification would result in the fishing community’s future turning uncertain. Traditional fishing grounds could be denied to the fishermen. The CZM reflects the Government of India’s determination to sell the sea for commercial looting by foreign companies.

Mr. Saldhana, who champions the movement against special economic zones in Goa, said that in order to resist the CZM, fishermen of the country had to unite.

He alleged there was a concerted effort by vested interests to keep the fishing communities divided on the basis caste and creed. The fishing community should see through this game plan and oppose the CZM.

Some of the demands to be raised during the Parliament march include recognition of the customary and traditional rights of the fishing community over coastal land and waters, implementation of the CRZ notification, ban on intensive aquaculture along the coast, announcing a comprehensive legislation for the exclusive economic zone waters, sufficient cheaper fuel for sustainable fishing and reforming the Marine Fishing Regulation Acts of the States to improve fisheries management.

The Kerala course of the campaign was also led by president of the Kerala Matsyathozhilali Federation T. Peter and general secretary A. Andrews.

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