Central policies on fisheries need urgent correction as they push the fishing community into starvation and wrest the State’s rights, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] observed on Friday.
At the State conference of the party, held in Ernakulam, the CPI(M) urged the people to unite against Central policies that favoured monopolies and harmed the prospects and livelihood of the fishing community.
The National Fisheries Policy that gifted deep-sea fisheries to monopolies and the policies pertaining to the Blue Economy had serious consequences for the fisheries sector and the people who lived by it, the CPI(M) noted.
The country had a coastline of 8,118 km and 40 lakh fishers among a 17-crore-strong coastal population. The Central policies on the sector encroached on the rights of the fishers and the States. The policies favoured monopolies and the operations of foreign vessels.
The Centre was not amenable to the State's demand that the ownership of vessels engaged in deep-sea fishing should be restricted to traditional fishers and cooperatives. Besides, there emerged a situation where the State would lose the right to issue licences to the vessels. Not just fisheries resources, offshore resources including oil and natural gas and activities such as processing and marketing also were being gifted to monopolies, the CPI(M) noted.
