Pressing for dumping the Meena Kumari Committee report and scrapping the Central Government’s proposed issuing of licences to foreign trawlers to fish in India’s waters, the Fisheries Coordination Committee marched on the headquarters of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Kochi on Wednesday.
Leaders and activists of the unions of fish workers and boat owners took part in the march and the dharna staged later. The FCC also wanted the government to reject the report of the Saida Rao Committee report that recommends extension of the period of trawling by mechanised boats.
Former Fisheries Minister and CPI (M) leader S. Sarma, who opened a dharna staged by the FCC, said the Central Government was aiming to curtail the fishing rights of the domestic fishing community and let the multinational companies to exploit India’s fisheries resources.
2015, The Hindu Business Line