A DELEGATION of All India Fishers and Fisheries Workers’ Federation (AIFFWF) comprising Tushar Ghosh, its president, Hemalata, general secretary, VV Saseendran, treasurer and Koottayi Basheer and P Stanly, both secretaries, met the union minister for environment and forests Prakash Javadekar on December 1, and submitted a memorandum on the difficulties faced by the fishers and other traditional people living in the country’s coastal areas due to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification 2011. The delegation was led by Tapan Sen, MP and general secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions. The delegation demanded that the traditional rights of the fishers and other communities traditionally living on the coast, to construct, repair/reconstruct and modify their dwellings should be allowed without any restrictions related to floor space index, density of houses etc, and the necessary amendments should be made to the CRZ notification immediately. AIFFWF also demanded that activities that threaten the livelihood of the fishers and communities dependent on the coast should not be allowed in the coastal areas in the name of ‘development’ and the relevant restrictions in the CRZ should be strictly implemented. The minister told that he was aware of the difficulties of the fishers, particularly in Kerala as well as other states due to these provisions and assured the delegation that the government was seriously considering changes in the CRZ to address the above concerns of the fishers and others traditionally living on the coast, by March 2015. While welcoming the assurance of the minister, AIFFWF demanded that the assurance related to the housing of the fishers and other coastal communities be implemented at the earliest. It also demanded that the priorities of development in the coastal areas should be decided only after consulting the local communities and involving them in the process. AIFFWF calls upon all the coastal fishers and other traditional communities living in the coastal areas to continue united agitation and struggle to protect their rights and livelihoods. Below is the full text of the memorandum submitted by the AIFFWF delegation to the minister for environment and forests. MORE than one crore people are living in the coastal areas of the country, majority of them living in small huts and kutcha houses. Most of these families have been traditionally living there since decades or even a few centuries, even though they do not have ownership or legal rights on the land. These fishing villages have certain common properties of the fishers’ communities like small houses, sheds to store the fishing crafts and other equipments, fishing jetties, fish landing facilities, fish drying yards etc as well as certain properties that are essential for the local communities like dispensaries, roads, schools etc. There should be no restrictions on the construction, repair and modification of these properties that are most essential to meet the basic needs of the fishers and other communities living in the coastal areas. The CRZ 2011 ignores these fundamental and customary rights of traditional fisher communities in the coastal areas. In addition to restricting the activities on the territorial sea extending to 12 nautical miles from the sea shore, it imposes several restrictions on building houses, sheds for keeping fishing implements etc near the sea. The existing norms and regulations of floor space index or floor area ratio impose restrictions on any changes being made in the existing dwellings of the fishers’ and other communities traditionally living in the coastal areas thus denying them their inalienable right to make changes to their dwelling houses and causing them lot of difficulties. At the same time the CRZ notification allows a wide range of activities including atomic energy projects, power projects, green field airports, and other constructions with built up area of 20000 sq mts and more in the CRZ II. These pose a grave threat to the livelihood of the coastal communities ultimately leading to the loss of their livelihood and their displacement from their traditional living and working spaces. Already, there is proliferation of mega ports in the coast including in close proximity of CRZ1 and other ecologically sensitive areas, causing erosion and having other environmental and social impacts. Given the high pressure on the coast even activities that require water front and foreshore facilities can destroy the coast over time through cumulative impacts. The present low eroding coast can become high eroding coast due to such activities. Hence, we demand • The traditional rights of the fishers and the other communities traditionally living on the coast, to construct, repair/ reconstruct and modify their dwellings should be allowed without any restrictions related to floor space index, density of houses etc, by making the necessary amendments to the CRZ notification immediately. • Any activities that threaten the livelihood of the fishers traditionally dependent on the coast should not be allowed in the coastal areas, ensuring strict implementation of the relevant restrictions in the CRZ. Ports and harbours, quays, wharves, erosion control measures, breakwaters etc should be sanctioned only after proper integrated cumulative impact assessment and remedial measures are made. While reiterating our stand that effective protection of the ecology and environment in the coastal areas can be ensured only by involving the local communities in deciding the priorities of development in the coastal areas and empowering them in the implementation process, we request you to personally intervene to protect their livelihoods and traditional rights by positively considering the above demands of the coastal fishers and other traditional communities.