A Greenpeace report released on the occasion of “World
Oceans Day” on Friday warns that India may suffer a three pronged threat
due to depleting fish stocks and neglect of marine conservation. The
report was formally released by Basudev Acharya, Chairman of the
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture.
Fisheries
industry contributes to about two per cent of India’s GDP in addition
to providing livelihood to about 15 million people. Depleting fish
stocks would not only result in massive job losses but would also damage
the ecology and the national GDP, the report says.
Ninety
per of India’s fish resources are at or above maximum sustainable
levels of exploitation. The Greenpeace findings claim convincingly
contradicting the official stand that there is still scope for fish
landings to increase in India despite the dangerously depleting fish
stocks.
In addition to an average annual output value
of Rs. 42, 178 crore, marine fisheries form an important socio-economic
component of the coastal regions. The fisheries sector has also been
one of the major contributors to foreign exchange earning through
export.
The report states that India’s fish exports
were worth over US $2.8 billion in 2010-2011. Over 45 per cent of this
export value came from marine capture fisheries and official targets are
to raise this to US $ 6 billion by 2015.
The report
is based on statistical data and first hand information of the
experience of fishermen. It also gives stress on the ecological damage
to marine biodiversity as a result of overfishing. “Capacity, intensity
and technology used in combination directly impacts populations of
specific species of fish and also negatively alter the ecosystems.”
Too
many fishing boats leading to over-fishing, an over reliance on
destructive fishing techniques and continued government subsidies for
the mechanised fisheries sector are the main causes of the current
over-exploitation. The report says the situation has been worsened by
rampant pollution, destruction of breeding grounds such as mangrove
forests and estuarine areas, hot water discharge from thermal power
plants, industrial effluents, sewage from major urban centres and
coastal over development.
In the wake of these
findings, T. Peter, secretary of the National Fishworkers Forum called
for a “comprehensive policy that would address the crisis by moving
towards a sustainable approach to fishing that involves fishermen in
decision making”. Areeba Hamid, Greenpeace campaigner said that current
levels of mechanised fishing are ecologically unsustainable.
No comments:
Post a Comment