By Matters India Reporter
Kochi: The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council has asked the state government to withdraw all steps it had taken on deep sea fishing off the coast.
The act of the Kerala government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a foreign firm without consulting the fishermen community or heeding the coastal people’s concerns is objectionable, says a statement the bishops’ council issued on February 23.
The bishops, however, welcomed the government move to retract the agreement that brought great relief to the coastal community.
Although the government has withdrawn the agreement amid public protests, all the steps it had taken since 2018 to implement the project remain in force, the bishops point out.
Bishops’spokesperson Father Jacob G Palackapilly, who signed the press release, says fishermen community fears that the company would implement the project in some other way.
“If the project is materialized, it would affect the lives of the residents of coastal areas,” the bishops warn and add that although the project is known as deep-sea fishing, it really happens near the shore.
“Launching of more trawlers will affect the ecosystem. Hence, the government should initiate necessary action to alleviate the fear of the coastal residents,” the statement asserts.
The controversial agreement between Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation and US-based EMCC, a US-based company, aimed to build 400 trawlers and five mother ships. The agreement was worth 29.5 billion rupees.
The bishops’ council said that the presence of a large number of fishing trawlers would destabilize the conditions of the deep sea and also affect fishing operations.
Fishers’ unions, which had protested against the agreement, has called for a coastal shut down on February 27 if the government failed to revoke the agreement.
On February 19, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala criticized the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government in Kerala for signing the Memorandum of Understanding with the US-based firm.
However, state Fisheries Minister Mercykutty Amma said that her ministry has signed an MoU with EMCC International India. The ministry is in charge of granting license for deep sea trawling.
An MoU was signed between Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Limited (for the Kerala government) and EMCC in February 2020. Another MoU was signed between Kerala Shipping Inland Navigation Corporation Limited and the US firm in February 2021.
According to the two agreements, EMCC International India will invest 53.24 billion rupees in fisheries research and development for upgrading and promoting the deep sea fishing industry in Kerala. The company will build 400 ships and five mother vessels at 20 million and 7.4 million rupees each respectively.
Fisheries policies the government drafted in 2019 aims to protect deep-sea fishing from local and foreign trawlers, in addition to improving scientific methods of fishing and allowing fishermen to fix the price of the catch and sell it in the market.
The opposition has said that two agreements with the US firm go against the spirit of the fisheries policy.
It is very strange that the Bishops Council which is concerned about the welfare of the fishermen never came to know during last so many years the LDF actions detrimental to the interests of the fishermen. Now since the Opposition Leader came out against the GMCC and other related matters that were against the interests of the fishermen the KCBC is hurrying to get involved in the matter. It is clear they were not interested in such matters or showed adequate vigilance in matters that may adversely affect their interests.