Alleging that the changes suggested in the Draft Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 2018 will have adverse affect on their livelihoods, an organisation of fishermen in West Bengal have written to the Centre urging that the notification be scrapped.
Citing that notification proposes to allows in CRZ-IV (which comprises coastal waters) transfer of hazardous substances from ships to ports and projects related to defence and atomic energy, the fishermen have said it “proposes to destroy the fishing grounds of the small and traditional fishing communities.”
The letter sent by representatives of Kanthi Mahakuma Khoti Matsyajibi Union and Dakshin Banga Matyajibi Forum to officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that the proposed changes will increase “pollution load in the seas and the encroachment in the CRZ.”
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Debasis Shyamal, vice-president of Dakshin Banga Matyajibi Forum, said that while the earlier notification laid stress on the traditional and customary rights of the fishing community in the CRZ, the 2018 draft was silent on the rights of small fishermen.
West Bengal has about 158 km of coastline spread across North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts and about 2 lakh coastal fishermen are dependent on the coastline for their livelihood.
Fishermen have raised objections to the main proposed changes of the draft which suggests that coastal regulation zone along the tidal influenced water bodies from “100 metres or the width of the creek, whichever is less, to 50 metres or the width of the creek, whichever is less”.
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Joykrishna Halder, general secretary of United Fishermen’s Association, said that the proposal would have an impact on the fish found near the coastline. “In many cases small fishermen catch fish near the coast and leave it to dry on the coast,” he said.
West Bengal Minister for Fisheries Chandranath Sinha said that the state government was aware of the concerns of small fishermen on the Draft Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 2018 and was studying it.
“We will hold talks with the fishermen and approach the Chief Minister on the issue,” the Minister said. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change made the draft CRZ notification 2018 public in April and has sought views of all stakeholders, including the public, within 60 days.