Fishers up in arms against policy shift - SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT - http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/fishers-up-in-arms-against-policy-shift/article7928415.ece
<http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/fishers-up-in-arms-against-policy-shift/article7928415.ece#> Expert panel set up by Centre has failed to address stakeholders’ concerns, say Kerala fishermen [image: Serious issues have not been adequately addressed in the questionnaire prepared by various Union Ministries, feel fishermen’s organisations.— File Photo: Vipin Chandran] Serious issues have not been adequately addressed in the questionnaire prepared by various Union Ministries, feel fishermen’s organisations.— File Photo: Vipin Chandran Fishing communities in Kerala and the other coastal States are up in arms against the constitution of an expert committee by the Central government to revise the National Marine Fisheries Policy, without ensuring the representation of stakeholders. Leaders of various fishermen organisations say that the absence of stakeholders’ participation would make a farce of the policy revision and reduce it to a bureaucratic exercise. They said the revised policy would meet the same fate as the recommendations of the Dr. Meenakumari commission on deep sea fishing and the proposals of the Dr. Saida Rao committee on the monsoon fishing ban, both of which were shelved in the wake of stiff protest from the coastal communities. A survey initiated by the expert committee to elicit response to the preparation of the revised fisheries policy has also come under fire from fishermen organisations who feel that it failed to address their livelihood concerns and the key issues affecting the marine fisheries sector. The survey involves a set of 85 questions to be answered in the Yes/No format. *Questionnaire* The questionnaire has been prepared and circulated by the expert committee set up by the Union Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF) with the Director General, Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) S. Ayyappan as chairman. Stakeholders and the general public can submit their response up to December 10. “Eliciting suggestions and views without a draft policy document does not make sense”, says T. Peter, Secretary, National Fishworkers Forum. “Some of the questions are vague and do not address the real issues faced by fisherfolk. The Yes/No format is not the ideal method either. It smacks of an attempt to create a smokescreen.” Says Anto Elias, Secretary, Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation (KSMTF), “Serious issues like climate change and sea level rise that would necessitate relocation of fishermen, operation of foreign trawlers in Indian waters, destructive methods of fishing and encroachment of coastal areas for non-fishing activities have not been adequately addressed by the questionnaire. If the government was sincere, it should have first taken steps to create a separate ministry for fisheries.” Interestingly, a section of leaders representing fishermen organisations have raised the demand to project the BJP national policy on fishing and fishermen as the base document for the expert committee. The party policy, prepared in 2012 during the tenure of the UPA government, had promised to improve the socio-economic conditions of the fishing communities if the BJP was voted to power in 2014. *A section of leaders want to project the BJP national policy on fishing as the base document* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
