The traditional fishermen have come out against the state government move to mine sand from the seas, with the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikyavedi (TUCI) president Charles George urging the government to rollback the controversial decision. According to the fishers, the move would deny the community their livelihood and harm the biodiversity along the Kerala coast. Since the move comes close on the heels of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s visit to the Middle East it has given rise to strong suspicion. Since 1998, Crown Maritime, the Bahrain-based company, has been jockeying for official sanction to mine sand from the Kerala coast, George said. The company had signed an MoU in this regard with the then A K Antony-led UDF Government following the Global Investment Meet in 2003. The project was abandoned after the Left parties and fisher organisations protested against it. The then Fisheries Minister K V Thomas had even stopped the feasibility study for the project. It is deplorable the same group which fought against the project is revisiting it after a gap of 14 years, he said. In fact, sea sand mining is being discouraged in many countries and there are strict laws in place to regulate it. The practice bodes ill for both the environment and the tourism sector. There are more than 800 varieties of fish species in our seas and it is the most biodiversity-rich region after Indonesia. Allowing sea sand mining will destroy all that, George said.