Hon’ble AM, Ministers of Fisheries of the Coastal States, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, DG (ICAR) & Secretary, DARE, and officers of the Central and State Governments.
To begin with, it is important for us to recognize the fact that there is a complete lack of statutory provision and a legal vacuum for Regulation of Fisheries and Fishing in our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) beyond territorial waters. The Maritime Zones of India (MZI) Act, which was legislated in 1981 caters to foreign vessels only. This is understandable since India’s indigenous capability to exploit fisheries resources in the deep sea was rather limited at that time. Over the years, however, the fishing industries capability has undergone a sea change. More and more of our fishermen are venturing into the deep sea for fishing. This has been propelled not only by improvement in technology but also due to over exploitation and pollution of our coastal waters resulting in dwindling catches.
Most fishing grounds of the world at present are devoid of productive fisheries resources. It is imperative that unless conservation measures are undertaken for sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources, the fishermen community in the coastal states could be adversely affected in the long run in terms of volume of catch and hence income and employment.
This brings us to the important question of sustainability. The legislation appropriately talks about fisheries management plans, which need to be developed in consultation with the coastal State Governments and all other stakeholders. As we know, fish is highly mobile and some important species such as tuna are migratory as well. Fish does not recognize jurisdiction of maritime zones. Hence, the fisheries management plan has to be developed in a comprehensive manner encompassing all maritime zones of the country. This implies that the State Governments and the Union Government along with other stakeholders will have to develop this plan after detailed consultations among themselves.
We have to also protect our traditional fishermen whose primary occupation is fishing to meet their day to day livelihood. As I have mentioned earlier, some of these fishermen are forced to go into the EEZ due to intense competition and dwindling catches in coastal waters. However, they don’t venture too deep into the EEZ. We, therefore, have to devise a system where their hardships do not get compounded due to the new piece of proposed legislation in terms of obtaining licenses and other requirements that this Act may entail. This could easily be done once a consensus with respect to the kind of crafts and the areas of operation emerge, which probably needs to be kept outside the purview of the Act. This can easily be done through the saving clauses which have been provided in the draft legislation.
The process of building up of consensus needs to be intensified due to the sensitive nature of the issues involved in the proposed legislation. The States will also have to play a collaborative and supportive role in our effort to bring about this consensus. On our part, we are ready to help the states in their endeavour to bring on board the fishermen of their states even if such consultations are required to be undertaken at the State level.
I am confident that today’s deliberations will enable us to move one step closer in bringing about this consensus where the proposed legislation will be a beneficial one rather than detrimental to the interest of the fishermen community of India.
Thank you.
