Fisherwomen, who eke out a living by collecting seaweed near the islets in Gulf of Mannar, have drawn two-pronged agitation — to stage a demonstration in front of the forest office and to ‘reside’ in the islets — to draw the attention of the authorities to protect their livelihood.
Alleging that the forest personnel harassed and prevented them from collecting seaweed near the islets, fisherwomen from more than half a dozen villages around the coastal Erwadi and Kilakarai met here on Saturday and adopted resolutions to stage the agitations in support of their demands.
M. Karunamurthy, district secretary of the CITU affiliated to Tamil Nadu Meenpidi Thozhirsanga Koottamaippu, who chaired the meeting, claimed that the women collected the seaweed around at least seven islets in the region without disturbing the coral reefs and marine resources.
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Stating that they had been collecting seaweeds around the islets for more than five decades in the region up to Thoothukudi, he said the women collected seaweed only from lime stones, but the forest personnel would not allow them within the 500 metres of the islets.
The women acted as protectors of the islets, he said and demanded that they be allow to collect seaweeds after staying in the islets.
The ban on collecting seaweed near the islets has seriously affected the livelihood of the women, he said and urged the state government to take up the issue with the centre and lift the ban. To press their charter of demands, the women would stage a protest demonstration in front of the Kilakarai forest range office on August 25.
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If the authorities failed to redress their grievances, the women would go ahead with the agitation of sailing to reside in the islets on September 1, he said. As the islets were barren, they would carry saplings with them to be planted there, he added.
Forest officials said that they were only implementing the government order, which prohibited any kind of activity within 500 metres range of the islets in Gulf of Mannar.