Kerala Fishers Gearing up for Protest Against National Fisheries Policy http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/thiruvananthapuram/Kerala-Fishers-Gearing-up-for-Protest-Against-National-Fisheries-Policy/2015/12/05/article3161617.ece
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After successfully thwarting the Meenakumari Committee report on deep sea fishing, fishermen are gearing up for yet another protest against the drafting process for a new National Marine Fisheries Policy. They are aggrieved as none of their representatives were included in the seven-member expert committee constituted by the Central Government to revise the existing policy formed in 2004. “We are not against the new policy. But we question the way in which it is being drafted,” T Peter, secretary, National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), said on Friday. He was speaking while moderating a seminar organised by the Kerala Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Federation and NFF. According to Peter, the BJP government should follow the draft prepared by the party in 2012. “The BJP national policy on fishing and fishermen presented by Nitin Gadkari at the time of the UPA government should be the base document for the expert committee. The change in stance is to support the corporates,” he said. Fishermen organisations and other experts at the seminar were even more critical of the questionnaire released by the committee to help draft the policy. “The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) sought the opinions and views of all stakeholders on key issues affecting marine fisheries through a questionnaire. But curiously 85 questions in the questionnaire can be answered only in yes/no format. These questions cannot be answered with just yes or no. But it tells about what the outcome of the committee would be. Fishermen were not included for they do not want the report to end up like the Meena Kumari Committee report,” said D Sanjeev Ghosh, former Additional Director, Department of Fisheries. B Ignatious Mandro, Deputy Director, Directorate of Fisheries, said there were some controversial questions in the questionnaire where a yes or no could adversely affect the fishing community. “There are many questions which do not offer much choice in answers. Questions on which agency to regulate enforcement, amenities in multiday vessels, Letter of Permission scheme, etc are some of them,” he said. LoP is a scheme of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, giving permit to Indian fishing firms to import foreign vessels for fishing in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. “Even if the fishermen respond with a yes or no, indicating their preference for LOP scheme, it could be used for supporting the entry of foreign vessels in the report,” he said. *Centre Flayed* T N Prathapan MLA, who inaugurated the seminar, said he was registering his protest for the callous attitude of the government in framing the policy that affected the life and livelihood of millions of people in the country. “The Centre wants to draft the policy to suit the needs of corporates and international lobbies. The questionnaire is part of the predetermined draft,” he said. He saidthe Murari panel report was made with meaningful contributions from the fishing community and could be considered the Magna Carta of fishing policy. But the report was put in the backburner, he said. -- 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.
