Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

`Politicians using coastal norms for their own benefits'

By Our Staff Reporter

Chennai June 16. Harassed by years of threat to their livelihood, fisherfolk gave vent to their angst at a workshop here yesterday on coastal concerns, which highlighted the urgent need to safeguard the 1,000-km coastal stretch in the State and to protect shoreline communities from being displaced by development projects.

Fishermen participating in the day-long discussions were especially concerned at the tie-up with the Malaysian Government for a proposed Marina Beautification Project, which, they said, entailed removing them to another location.

Speaking on `fisherfolk livelihood' at the workshop, organised by the Coastal Watch Forum, the convenor of the Fisher Movements Coordination of Tamilnadu, Fathima Babu, said politicians used the pretext of development and rehabilitation to dislocate fishermen so as to allow multinational companies and industries to set up businesses along the coast. It led to a severe marine pollution and also snatched the livelihood of fishermen. Political parties interpreted the coastal zone regulations to suit their own necessities, she said.

Calling for greater involvement of the fisherfolk in coastal management, participants said the Tamilnadu Coastal Zone Management Authority did not consist of even one representative of the fishing community though it would be affected the most by any changes to coastal regulations.

Aarthi Sridhar, an environmentalist from Karnataka, said coastal zone regulations had been amended 14 times in 13 years, and these were effected without consultation of the local people or fishermen. "There is no transparency in the process." As coastal protection faced tough challenges from ports, oil and gas plants, special economic zones and tourism, authorities had to take efforts to conclusively review the coastal regulations zone (CRZ) norms, she said.

K.T. Ravindran, dean of the Urban Design the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, pointing to the "blatant abuse of the CRZ," said there was no mechanism or authority to take cognisance violations and penalise offenders. He also stressed the need to strike a balance between local and global issues such as threat to environment. ``But fishermen should not be relocated for any reason. They must live where the fish are; not 10 km or even 1 km away,'' he said.

The Fisheries socio-economist, M. H. Kalavathy, urged the fisherfolk to stand up to their rights and be united in their cause. Justice Kuldip Singh, former Supreme Court judge, said governments were going back on the CRZ under pressure from multinationals.

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