National Fish Workers Forum (NFF) organized a two-day Perspective Building workshop for fishers in the Ecumenical Christian Center, Bangalore in association with the National Center for Advocacy Studies (NCAS) which was attended by Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat.
Herman Kumara Secretary General of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) from Srilanka attended the meeting and inaugurated the official website of NFF he also presented the “The Unequal Share of Central Fisheries Subsidies and Schemes towards Aquaculture in India” report prepared by NFF was released.
Several issues were deliberated on issues of climate change’s impact on marine ecosystems and fishing livelihoods, effects of industrialization on the coast, WTO agreement of fisheries subsidies, FAO guidelines, disaster management etc.
Herman Kumara stated that 65% of fish available is from Aquaculture and this is deliberately done to displace the small-scale fishers across the globe. he also assured that International Maritime Border issues should be resolved resuming by-literal dialogue with the Srilankan government so that the issues faced by Tamil Nadu fishers and Srilankan fishers get resolved. NFF Chairperson Leo Colaco demanded that the Central Government and the Goa state fisheries department strictly implement the Ban of LED lights and generators used by purine trawlers for fishing as the Goan purine trawlers enter our territorial waters which has completely displaced the traditional fishers of Maharashtra.