India’s lucrative commercial fish resources, including one of world’s last healthy tuna stocks, are being systematically exploited by fishing vessels of foreign origin as a result of the Letter of Permit (LoP) scheme which, in turn, is impacting the livelihoods of millions and the business interests of the Indian fishing sector, creating significant losses to the Indian exchequer by way of revenue and the destruction of marine habitats, reveals Greenpeace India’s report Licensed to Loot.
Coinciding with the release of the report, the National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF), the Association of Indian Fisheries Industry (AIFI) and Greenpeace India urged Minister Sharad Pawar to scrap the LoP scheme and expedite an investigation on the issue.
Releasing the report, R. K Patil, General Secretary, NFF, said, “The LoP scheme is a textbook example of where we have gone wrong with fisheries management in this country. The failure on the part of the Agriculture Ministry to curtail various violations and illegalities within the scheme has not only meant loss for the Indian government, but has also translated into greater impoverishment for millions of fisherfolk in India.”
The report, compiled on the basis of Greenpeace India’s documentation out at sea, supported by information from sources within the industry, including whistleblowers, demonstrates that the LoP is routinely exploited through:
(a) dual registrations or double-flagging (despite the fact that dual registration is illegal in India);
(b) trans-shipments, which massively undermine India’s revenue and earnings, considering that these vessels largely self-regulate the process and are not required to land their catches in India, as a result of which they significantly under-report their catch levels;
(c) fraudulent registrations (in the form of obtaining a provisional registration in a third country and then surrendering it to obtain Indian registration while maintaining the original registration); and
(d) lack of transparency accompanied by a failure of monitoring and surveillance.
A complaint has been filed with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the LoP scheme and the vessels operating under it, specifically in the case of:
inadequate monitoring of foreign crew, considering the absence of valid employment visas;
non-possession of radio licences;
failure of LoP operators to register with the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) as exporters; and
the absence of monitoring, control and surveillance measures, which result in a failure to track these vessels on their departure from the Indian exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The CBI is currently investigating these issues with specific LoP operators.
Elaborating on NFFs position on the controversial LoP scheme, T. Peter, Secretary, NFF, said, “Mismanagement of our seas has pushed our fishery resources to the brink of collapse as most of the fishermen experience a fall in catches with increased fishing effort. And adding insult to injury is the LoP scheme, which basically implies that our own government is subsidising overfishing in our waters at the cost of its citizens.”
Dr. Y.G.K Murthy, President, AIFI, who is currently also a petitioner in an ongoing case in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on this matter, said, ” Neither the fishing sector nor India benefits from this scheme. Estimates suggest that each of these foreign vessels earn up to INR 11 crores (US$2.2mn) per season by way of catch value and, in return, pay India a one-time licensing fee of INR 10,000 ($200). Public records of the government’s revenue on catch from the scheme do not seem to exist. In effect, the LoP scheme is facilitating, intentionally or otherwise, the pillage of marine resources and India’s income.”
Critiquing the scheme, V Vivekanandan, Advisor to NFF and the South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS), said, “Socially, economically and environmentally, India stands to lose as long as the Ministry of Agriculture continues with this scheme. LoP creates a framework for illegal fishing in our waters and the scheme needs to be scrapped right away. Moreover, considering that the Indian fishing communities and sector are capable of utilizing fish resources further out in the EEZ, with some support specifically in processing and exports, there is certainly no need to bring in either foreign vessels or technologies.”
In response to a public campaign, over 200,000 Indians have, since January 2012, called for the scheme to be scrapped. Locating this issue in a national and global context, Areeba Hamid, Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace India, concluded, “”Quite clearly, the situation in India mirrors the situation of the oceans globally. As host nation to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2012, and a key player on global governance of the oceans, India stands to gain with proactive action, beginning by scrapping the LoP scheme and a cancellation of the licences issued so far.”