The Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedhi, an independent trade union of fishermen, has called the report ‘Marine Fish Stock Status of India 2022’ by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) a sleight of hand. Scientists involved in the study should prepare an authentic and honest report based on facts, said the union.
The fishermen’s union alleged that the report describing more than 90% of Indian fish stocks as sustainable was meant to aid the Union government’s “policy to wipe out small-scale fishers”, paving the way for large mother vessels to operate in Indian waters.
The Central government was trying to emulate the failed model of large vessel fishing in foreign countries and reports were prepared to aid this programme, alleged president of the union Charles George in a statement here.
The report on sustainability, released by Parshottam Rupala, Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, contrasted sharply with CMFRI studies on the subject released so far. A report by CMFRI in 2021 said that only 34% of the fish stocks were sustainable. However, the sustainable stocks had gone up from 34% to more than 90% in one year, according to the CMFRI report. It was a sleight of hand, said Mr. George.
The report was anti-fishermen and against the balance of nature and deserved to be rejected outright. Instead, CMFRI scientists should come out with a report based on facts through scientific research, he added.