Fishermen urge govt to withdraw draft coastal plan, cancel public hearing

CHENNAI: Alleging that the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2019 is incomplete and has been prepared with erroneous information apart from lack of demarcation of fishing villages, fishermen associations have urged the state government to withdraw the draft and cancel public hearing meetings.

The most basic livelihood spaces of fishing villages are the fishing zones and fish breeding areas in the river and sea.

The common properties of fishing villages include shoreline fishing areas, fish markets, net drying sheds, boat repairing areas, infrastructure facilities for fishing and local communities include village roads, anganwadi centers, community halls, and places of worship.

According to CZMP 2019, these areas are legally required to be marked, however none of the 12 districts' CZMPs have done so. As a result, traditional fishing habitats are losing their legal protection, " K Barathi, president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association, told reporters, on Wednesday.

He added that such neglect in CZMPs is directly depriving coastal fishing villages and small-scale fishing livelihood spaces that are already vulnerable to mega ports, real estate or tourism projects.

He pointed out that the state has 610 fishing villages but names of those villages are not mentioned in the maps. "This will pave the way for projects that would affect fishermen. Only if traditional spaces and habitats are mentioned, fishermen could challenge such projects in courts. Also, in one of the maps pertaining to Cuddalore district, a high tide line has been marked on the sea, which is a mistake. Government should conduct public hearings without rectifying errors and demarcating fishing areas, " he urged.

In order to protect the habitats and livelihood of fishermen from sea water intrusion, the government should legally register long-term housing plans and sea erosion areas in the CZMP. "According to a NGT order, high, medium and low erosion zones have to be identified and the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) for them should be included in the CZMP. However, the entire sea erosion areas have been omitted, " he said.

As first public hearing for Chengalpattu district scheduled to be held on August 18, M Arumugam President Chengalpattu District Fishermen Cooperative Network said that fishermen in the district will boycott the meeting.

It may be noted that the state environment department released CZMPs for 12 of the 14 coastal districts. CZMPs for Chennai and Tiruvallur are yet to be released due to legal cases.