The Kerala Fisheries Coordination Committee has blamed the State Government for not ensuring representation of the State’s fisheries sector at the meet held in New Delhi last month to finalise the Draft National Policy on Marine Fisheries-2016. The sole representative from Kerala at the meeting, headed by Indian Council for Agricultural Research former director general Dr S Ayyappan, was an official of the Matsyafed. The committee, however, lauded many of the draft recommendations, which were published on June 1. The second draft recommendations are different from those tabled on January 19. They were made following protests from fishermen associations and coastal organisations. We had launched a protest against the earlier recommendations, and the govt included our concerns in the report submitted to the Central committee, said Fisheries Coordination Committee state president Charles George.
2016, The New Indian Express.