Fishermen forum to protest against Centre's policies

Kolkata: The National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF) along with other fish workers' organisations will organise a movement in the coastal areas of the state on November 21 on the occasion of World Fisheries Day to protest against various policies of the Centre.

Debasis Shyamal, general secretary of National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF) said Center's various policies favour large-scale investors at the cost of traditional fishing community and mechanised fishing boats have been affecting small scale fishermen.

He also voiced his protest by saying that the Sagarmala Project is going to evict the traditional small scale fishing communities from the coastal areas.

The proposed Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2018 has been published by the Government of India with a view to further open up the coast to massive investment.

The Centre has also announced about the West Coast Shipping Corridor that will prohibit fishing along the 85,000 square kilometre of sea waters in the West Coast, Shyamal maintained.

Apart from Bengal, the NFF will also organise protest movement in 10 other coastal states across the country, besides celebrating the World Fisheries Day. November 21 is celebrated all over the world as World Fisheries Day to commemorate the establishment of World Forum for Fisher People (WFFP) in 1997.

This year as well fishermen from various organisations will celebrate the day to commemorate glorious movements of the community and take a vow to build up invincible collective resistance against the implementation of various policies by the Centre. The theme of this year's celebration is "save water, save fish, save fishing people".