The Centre’s decision to enforce complete ban on fishing during the trawling period has been made taking the States into confidence, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president V. Muralidharan has said.
But there has been a deliberate bid to flare up anxiety among the fisherfolk on the moves, he said.
No room for confusion
Having taken a unanimous decision on trawling, there is no room for any confusion or anxiety as Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh has informed him in writing, Mr. Muralidharan said.
The BJP leader was speaking after flagging off the coastal march taken out by Bharatiya Matsya Pravarthaka Sangham in Kasaragod on Wednesday.
The trawling ban enforced by the Centre was not going to affect the fisherfolk or the fishing sector in Kerala, as the first 12 nautical miles of sea cover falls under the jurisdiction of respective States and hence the State government can issue requisite guidelines, he said.
The Centre is in control of sea area from 12 to 200 nautical miles, he said. But there was no need to flare up anxiety in the costal belt on the trawling issue.
The Centre on March 18 had convened a meeting of Chief Ministers. Fisheries Minister K. Babu had taken part in the meeting.
Kerala was the first State to declare trawling ban since 1988 and other coastal States followed suit by 2000.
The efforts to mislead public on the Centre’s steps was deliberate, he said.
The march, led by Bharatiya Matsya Pravarthaka Sangham vice president N. V. Radhakrishan, will reach Thiruvananthapuram on May 14.
