Several fishermen’s organisations on Wednesday demanded the withdrawal of the Coastal Zone Management Plans (CZMP) of 2019 since they do not even contain basic features, including the names of villages. The State has around 560 fishing hamlets in 12 districts, and maps have been released for each of these districts.
Addressing presspersons here, K. Bharathi of the South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association said that village-level CZMP are not to be found despite the rules clearly stating that these have to be shown. “Internal roads and features of villages like houses, fish drying places, boat parking spaces, net mending facilities, and fish markets have not been shown. If not marked, these facilities might just be considered encroachments in the future. In many cases, entire villages are missing. For example, 44 villages, including Mamallapuram in Chengalpattu, have not been marked,” he said.
The maps for which public hearings are to be held on August 18 do not show fishing or fish breeding zones marked; names of villages in several places are wrong (for instance, Nemmeli has been mentioned as Pudhu Kalpakkam), and some villages are mentioned as just Kuppam.
