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“Lift ban on sea cucumber fishing”
Today's Paper » NATIONAL » TAMIL NADU
Published: November 22, 2010 00:00 IST | Updated: November 22, 2010 04:21 IST “Lift ban on sea cucumber fishing”
The Ramanathapuram Fishermen Trade Union (RFTU) on Sunday urged the State and Central governments to lift ban on sea cucumber fishing, which is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
A resolution to this effect was adopted at the conference held here on the occasion of World Fishermen Day. It was attended by Thomas Kocheri, convener, National Fishermen Federation, Xavier Pinto, Executive Committee member, Jesuratnam, S. Arulanandam, N. Rajendra Prasad, S. Karuppasamy, R. Meena and others took part.
The resolution said it was not correct on the part of the government to ban sea cucumber fishing as the Gulf of Mannar was abundant with sea cucumber. As many as two lakh fishermen of Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin had been engaged in the fishing. They had been facing problem including criminal action whenever they happened to net sea cucumber. The ban should be imposed only for the species, which were very rare to sight.
Another resolution said the move of the State and Central governments to float buoys along the 21 islands of Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin districts was against the fishermen interest. It would pose livelihood problems to the fishermen of the region. Hence it was pertinent to abandon the proposed move. The State should take up the matter to the Central government and impress upon the need for ensuring fishermen rights in the region.
Pointing out a number of incidents of attack against the fishermen of Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy, the RFTU through another resolution urged the State and Central governments to take steps to get back the Kachchatheevu from Sri Lanka. It would help solve problems of fishermen, particularly in Rameswaram and Nagapattinam.
It also said that steps should be taken to ensure that the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust Scheme benefits only fishermen.
Friday, November 19, 2010
CRZ 2010 POSTPONEMENT? WITHDRAWAL IS THE FISHERS ONLY DEMAND.
COASTAL PEOPLE’S FEDERATION
19/1, Manual Jacob lane, Thoothukudi-628001.Tamilandu. India.
Tel: 0461-2361699; Email: eastcoastrd@dataone.in;cpfsouth@gmail.com Mob: 9842154073
THOTHUKUDI
19.11.2010
cpf PRESS NOTE
CRZ 2010 POSTPONEMENT? Withdrawal is the FISHERS only demand.
THE KALAIGNAR NEWS TV CHANNEL (FLASH NEWS) TODAY REPORTS OF THE TN CM IS ASKING THE CENTRE TO POSTPONE THE CRZ 2010 NOTIFICATION.
Kalignar has responded after the MOEF scheduled time / dead line was over on 14th November, eve. He has not legally responded or expressed the fishers concerns with in the stipulated time.
He has not sent any formal / written /oral objections to the centre so far with on crz 2010 implications on TN fishers and Tn state autonomy unlike the other counter parts in Kerala and orissa who did it before 14th of November.
He is now speaking after the relationship between DMK and Congress in not in a comfortable position after 2 G spectrum case and knowing well that centre has decided to postpone CRZ 2010 to next session of parliament, utilizing this position , he is now speaking.
He is well aware that CONGRESS IS GOING TO DITCH HIM IN THE FORTH COMING ELECTION ALLIANCE. So, He is now opening up as a guardian for fishers in order to elicit fishers support and distract fishers’ attention.
He never bothered to respond positively to the fishers’ agitation against CRZ 2010 last month instead diverted the CRZ issue and the VIBRANT protests to kerosene subsidy and fishers release from Qatar Prison.
During December, 2009, .the DMK HAS PLAYED A TRICK AND CHEATED THE FISHERS DURING THE TIRUCHEDUR BYE ELECTION TO POST PONE THE MARINE FISHERIES (REGULATION AND MANAGEMENT BILL, 2009) AND IN FACT IT WAS AN ELECTION STUNT. AND THE PROPOSED BILL IS in FORCE INDIRECTLY THROUGH THE CENTRE’S 11TH FIVE YEAR PLAN BUDGET ALLOTMENT and Approval.
SO, what we want is that TN CM should pressurize the CENTRE to withdraw the draconian notification once and for all.
By doing so, He thinks that He can still cheat fishers and carry on with such false propaganda. This will never happen as DMK has done nothing substantively for the protection of fishers’ rights and welfare.
He has used the FISHERS as VOTE BANK only.
Thank you,
Regards,
Pushparayan,
CPF, CONVENER.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
RESOULTIONS PASSED in the protest Against CRZ 2010 in Tirunelveli District on 29.10.2010
COASTAL PEOPLE’S FEDERATION
A-107/1, 14th Cross Street, Jawahar Nagar, N.G.O. “A” Colony, Tirunelveli – 627007
Phone: 0462 - 2554220; EMAIL: cpfsouth@gmail.com Mob: 98421 54073
Resolutions & Press Release
DATE: 29.10.2010 & VENUE: nellai junction railway station
We, the CPF, organized a mega agitation on behalf of Tirunelveli District Fishers in front of the Nellai Junction against the Central Government’s proposed notification on Coastal Regulation Zone 2010. The large gathering of Fisher people Consisting of Fishermen, Fisher Women and the Coastal Youth demanded that the proposed notification would definitely strike a death knell to all the fishers in India. It is intended to drive away all the fishers from the Coast and forbid them to fish in territorial waters. The large gathering of 3,000 People unanimously opposed this notification and wanted the Central Government to scrap this notification in toto and thus passed the following resolutions.
1. In the name of conserving the coast and the coastal waters, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, had published a notification called “CRZ 2010” in an undisclosed manner, in its website in English language on 15th, September, 2010. We strongly condemn the attitude and the procedure of MOEF to publish such notifications in such a manner, in an alien language, in an inaccessible medium to the fishers. We strongly oppose and condemn such process of eliciting public opinion.
2. We are forced to doubt seriously the real intentions of the Government by taking recourse to such crooked methods and undemocratic means of seeking stake holders’ opinion. We strongly urge the Governments to follow the democratic methods of communicating with the fishers while taking a decision that affects the fishers. We demand that such information to be available to poor fishers in their own native mother tongues and that too to be easily accessible and tenable through Print Media and Visual media.
3. It is has been already 44 days since the publication of this notification “CRZ 2010” in the MOEF website , we are very sorry to note that neither Political Parties in India nor the Political leaders in Tamilnadu nor the even Tamilnadu Government have not at all seemed to have bothered about this draconian , ANTI FISHERS & ANTI MARINE ENVIRONMENT notification. So, we strongly register our condemnation on behalf of the People present here about the callous attitude and the behavior of the vote bank mongering political parties in India and Tamilnadu for their convenient silence.
4. The Political Parties both in the centre and the state, after receiving the fishers votes, serve only the interests , agenda and welfare of the Indian business magnets and the MNCs . They unanimously welcome, enact and implement laws and projects. The Fishers who have gathered here hereby strongly state that the fishers will reject all the political parties who are favorable to MNCs and indifferent to the issues of fishers.
5. The Indian Fishers vehemently opposed and rejected the then proposed CMZ Notification, 2008 in July, 2009. Then the Moef conducted serious of 35 discussions all over india to stenghten the CRZ Notification 1991 in an unamended form. But the Moef has ignored all valuable discussions and disregarded them categorically and has come up with the new notification in the name of CRZ 2010 with all the rejected elements. So, the Gathering here is condemning the attitude of the Moef in total disregard of peoples’ views in this process.
6. After the devastating Tsunami experience, the Governments relentlessly are proposing or making a series of onslaught of the INDIAN fishers by way new laws, notifications, treaties, contracts. Such rush/push on the part of the Governments have had a great repercussions on the traditional fishers, their coast and their fishing since then .We strongly condemn that such acts of Governments would surely dethrone the Fishers from the Coast and Fishing and it would pave way for the commercialization , industrialization and privatization of coast and fishing for the interests of the MCNs. We strongly urge the Centre and the State Governments to stop such attempts against the welfare of the fishers. We strongly urge the Central Government to repeal the draconian notification CRZ 2010 immediately.
7. The Projects sponsored by World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been the only cause for the destruction of Fishers and their livelihood. We strongly that the Governments do not avail loans from such badly reputed institutions. We strongly urge the Government to cancel all the declarations and treaties like Indo US Nuclear Agreement, treaty, other atomic treaties with other countries and especially the ASEAN TREATY.
8. Before the Notifications or Laws could come into place, the Governments hurriedly permitting many hazardous industries like Nuclear Parks, Thermal Power Plants, Multipurpose (Private) Harbours, Coastal Mineral Mining leases, tourism plans in the 21 islands of Gulf of Mannar . This is an attempt to alienate Fishers from Coast and Fishing.
9. We condemn and demand that the Government to stop the process of constructing and setting up of Nuclear Parks in the koodankulam site by flouting all the environmental norms and data, starting from the selection of the site, misappropriation of details of fishers in the EIA, with out any consideration for the safety and disaster preparedness for the protection and livelihoods of the people around the plant site. We demand that the Government to withdraw the announcement of fishing ban around 500 meters in the koodankulam sea area from 1st of October, 2010.
10. There is severe sea erosion in all the coastal villages of Tirunelveli District due to illegal, environmentally destructive methods of rampant coastal sand mining, affecting coast, damaging fishing crafts and gears, sea water intrusion in to fisher’s dwellings, affecting even the cultural and religious sites especially in the coastal hamlet Uvari. It is matter of grave concern. So, We demand that the Government to stop the indiscriminate and illegal mining taking place in all the coastal stretch of Tirunelveli district and to protect the people on the verge of destruction , fisher houses, livelihood and the religious sites by taking war footing steps.
11. We urge the State and Central Government to intervene in the immediate release of the 41 missing Fishers from kanyakumari and Tirunelveli Districts and who are languishing in the Qatar Prison in almost six months. We demand that the Government to provide proper and adequate compensation to the families of missing fishermen.
12. At the end of all, The large gathering of the Fishers from Tirunelveli District expect the Governments to consider the feelings , the sentiments and demands of the agitating fishers as the total opposition of the fishers in the Tirunelveli district here against the proposed draft notification on Coastal Regulation Zone , 2010 and we demand the CRZ notification 1991 to be implemented in its original and unamended form to be made into law with the suggestions for strengthening the same CRZ 1991 from the document titled “FINAL FRONTIER “ acknowledged and accepted by Ministry of Environment and Forests on 16th July, 2009.
Thank you,
Yours truly,
Fr.Royappan ,
District In Charge, Coastal People’s Federation – CPF, the Village Committees, the Coastal Panchayats, the Fisher Federations and Coastal Women of Tirunelveli District, Tamilandu,India.
RESOULTIONS PASSED in the protest Against CRZ 2010 in Thoothukudi District
COASTAL PEOPLE’S FEDERATION
19/1, MANUAL JACOB LANE,
THOOTHUKUDI – 628001.TAMILNADU
PHONE; 0461 2361699: EMAIL: cpfsouth@gmail.com Mob: 98421 54073
Resolutions & Press Release
DATE: 29.10.2010 & VENUE: old municiapl OFFICE, thoothukudi
We, the CPF, organized a mega agitation on behalf of Thoothukudi District Fishers in front of the Old Municipal Office against the Central Government’s proposed notification on Coastal Regulation Zone 2010. The large gathering of Fisher people Consisting of Fishermen, Fisher Women and the Coastal Youth demanded that the proposed notification would definitely strike a death knell to all the fishers in India. It is intended to drive away all the fishers from the Coast and forbid them to fish in territorial waters. The large gathering of 12,000 People unanimously opposed this notification and wanted the Central Government to scrap this notification in toto and thus passed the following resolutions.
1. In the name of conserving the coast and the coastal waters, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, had published a notification called “CRZ 2010” in an undisclosed manner, in its website in English language on 15th, September, 2010. We strongly condemn the attitude and the procedure of MOEF to publish such notifications in such a manner, in an alien language, in an inaccessible medium to the fishers. We strongly oppose and condemn such process of eliciting public opinion.
2. We are forced to doubt seriously the real intentions of the Government by taking recourse to such crooked methods and undemocratic means of seeking stake holders’ opinion. We strongly urge the Governments to follow the democratic methods of communicating with the fishers while taking a decision that affects the fishers. We demand that such information to be available to poor fishers in their own native mother tongues and that too to be easily accessible and tenable through Print Media and Visual media.
3. It is has been already 44 days since the publication of this notification “CRZ 2010” in the MOEF website , we are very sorry to note that neither Political Parties in India nor the Political leaders in Tamilnadu nor the even Tamilnadu Government have not at all seemed to have bothered about this draconian , ANTI FISHERS & ANTI MARINE ENVIRONMENT notification.So,we strongly register our condemnation on behalf of the People present here about the callous attitude and the behavior of the vote bank mongering political parties in India and Tamilnadu for their convenient silence.
4. The Political Parties both in the centre and the state, after receiving the fishers votes, serve only the interests , agenda and welfare of the Indian business magnets and the MNCs .They unanimously welcome, enact and implement laws and projects. The Fishers who have gathered here hereby strongly state that the fishers will reject all the political parties who are favorable to MNCs and indifferent to the issues of fishers.
5. The Indian Fishers vehemently opposed and rejected the then proposed CMZ Notification, 2008 in July, 2009. Then the Moef conducted serious of 35 discussions all over india to stenghten the CRZ Notification 1991 in an unamended form. But the Moef has ignored all valuable discussions and disregarded them categorically and has come up with the new notification in the name of CRZ 2010 with all the rejected elements. So, the Gathering here is condemning the attitude of the Moef in total disregard of peoples’ views in this process.
6. After the devastating Tsunami experience, the Governments relentlessly are proposing or making a series of onslaught of the INDIAN fishers by way new laws, notifications, treaties, contracts. Such rush/push on the part of the Governments have had a great repercussions on the traditional fishers, their coast and their fishing since then .We strongly condemn that such acts of Governments would surely dethrone the Fishers from the Coast and Fishing and it would pave way for the commercialization, industrialization and privatization of coast and fishing for the interests of the MCNs. We strongly urge the Centre and the State Governments to stop such attempts against the welfare of the fishers. We strongly urge the Central Government to repeal the draconian notification CRZ 2010 immediately.
7. The Projects sponsored by World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been the only cause for the destruction of Fishers and their livelihood. We strongly that the Governments do not avail loans from such badly reputed institutions. We strongly urge the Government to cancel all the declarations and treaties like Indo US Nuclear Agreement, treaty, other atomic treaties with other countries and especially the ASEAN TREATY.
8. Before the Notifications or Laws could come into place, the Governments hurriedly permitting many hazardous industries like Nuclear Parks, Thermal Power Plants, Multipurpose (Private) Harbours, Coastal Mineral Mining leases, tourism plans in the 21 islands of Gulf of Mannar . This is an attempt to alienate Fishers from Coast and Fishing.
9. Along the Thoothukudi Coastal Stretch , there are number of projects which are a great threat at present to THOOTHUKUDI Fishers and we want these projects like Manapad Captive Port , Udangudi Themal Power Plants, Ind.Bharat Power Plants, Coastal Energens Power Projects, the proposed Multipurpose Fishing Harbours in the district , the Tuticorin Commercial harbour Expansion , the extensive and rampant Coastal Sand Mining , Vembar Based Gas Power Plant project which needs space with in coastal waters to lay the Gas Pipes, the tourism projects at 21 GOM islands, to be stopped and immediately. We strongly feel that the Government , in the name of conservation , is attempting to grab the 12 nautical miles from the traditional fishers and such sweet coated plans would be detrimental to Fishers rights over 12 nautical miles and the gathering present here want those projects to be stopped/scrapped immediately and to restore the Fishers’ Rights.
10. We want the Thoothukudi Municipal Corporation to stop the Underground Drainage (Municipal Waste) which carries the Polluted waters from the Thoothukudi hazardous plants safe to the seas, such project to be stopped immediately. We want the Sewage Treatment Plant at pulluthottam to be shifted to barren lands. We want the Government to cancel the proposed project of letting Tiruppur Dyeing units’ effluents in to the Bay of Bengal seas.
11. We demand the Government to halt the process of setting up a US Based Petro Chemical industry and a proposed harbour for the same at Thondi at Ramanathapuram district immediately.
12. We urge the State and Central Government to intervene in the immediate release of the 41 missing Fishers from kanyakumari and Tirunelveli Districts and who are languishing in the Qatar Prison in almost six months.
13. At the end of all, The large gathering of the Fishers from Thoothukudi District expect the Governments to consider the feelings , the sentiments and demands of the agitating fishers as the total opposition of the fishers in the thoothukudi district here against the proposed draft notification on Coastal Regulation Zone , 2010 and we demand the CRZ notification 1991 to be implemented in its original and unamended form to be made into law with the suggestions for strengthening the same CRZ 1991 from the document titled “FINAL FRONTIER “ acknowledged and accepted by Ministry of Environment and Forests on 16th July, 2009.
Thank you,
Yours truly,
M.Pushparayan,
Convener, Coastal People’s Federation – CPF, the Village Committees, the Coastal Panchayats, the Fisher Federations and Coastal Women Federations of Thoothukudi District, Tamilandu,India.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
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