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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Govt now plans Fishermen Rights Act for coastal areas

Govt now plans Fishermen Rights Act for coastal areas

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published Published on Jan 11, 2011   modified Modified on Jan 11, 2011

If forests belong to the forest-dwellers, then the coastal areas should belong to the fishing community. Acting on this line, the government is proposing to bring in a new law — modelled on the Forests Rights Act — to establish rights of fishermen on the coastal areas and resources found therein.

The Forests Rights Act, passed by Parliament in 2006 and brought into force in 2008, recognises the rights of tribals and traditional forest-dwellers on forest land and its resources. Any diversion of forest land for other purposes can be done only with the consent of the forest-dwellers. This powerful legislation has been used by the government to block some high-profile industrial projects, including Vedanta’s bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri hills of Orissa.

Now, the government is proposing a similar legislation — as of now being called the Traditional Coastal and Marine Fisherfolk (Protection of Rights) Act, or just Fishermen Rights Act, for short — for the coastal areas, aimed at benefitting fishermen and other traditional communities living on the coast and using the resources of sea for their livelihood. These communities will have the right to possess land and build habitations near the coast, rights over fish and other products of water bodies, and the rights to protect, conserve or manage resources in coastal areas or in sea.

The need for establishing and protecting the rights of fishing communities has become important in view of the government’s initiatives to strengthen the regulation of construction or industrial activity in the coastal areas with the aim of protecting these ecologically fragile zones.

Only last week, the government notified a revised set of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) guidelines that will regulate all activities within the first 500m of land from the coast and also in the entire territorial waters, extending up to 12 nautical miles, from the coastline.

The proposed legislation would ensure that the fishing communities and other traditional dwellers who have been living in the coastal areas for long and depend on the sea for their livelihood are treated differently from outsiders under the strict CRZ regulations. The new CRZ notification also makes this distinction and makes exceptions for these communities in certain instances.

As of now, the legislation is only at the discussion stage. A draft legislation has been put out by the Environment Ministry for public debate. After incorporating suggestions received from the stakeholders, a final draft legislation would be presented to the union cabinet for approval before being piloted as a Bill in Parliament.

The Indian Express, 11 January, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Govt-now-plans-Fishermen-Rights-Act-for-coastal-areas/735965


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