[Reader-list] Take our help to secure coast: fishermen

[T Peter]

 National <http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/05/02hdline.htm> [image: Printer
Friendly Page]<http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008120556221400.htm&date=2008/12/05/&prd=th&>
[image: Send this Article to a
Friend]<http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/pgemail.pl?date=2008/12/05/&prd=th&>

*Date:05/12/2008* *URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/05/stories/2008120556221400.htm*
*Take our help to secure coast: fishermen *

Ignatius Pereira

   KOLLAM: "It was the fishing community which provided the first authentic
information that the terrorists, who went on a three-day killing spree in
Mumbai, had reached the city through the sea," Harekrishna Debnath, chairman
of the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF), said on Thursday.

Talking to The Hindu here from Kolkata over phone, he said that in the light
of the terror attacks, the NFF intended to spread awareness among the
fishing community all over the country on the need to complement the
security agencies as information providers to protect the country's more
than 6000 kilometre coastline.

Mr. Debnath, who is also the convener of the National Coastal Protection
Campaign, said that the three-day MFF general body meeting at Rameshwaram in
Tamil Nadu from December 14 would take up the subject earnestly. "Even
historically, fishermen were the first line of defence along the maritime
boundary of the country," he said.

The fishing community had always been cooperating with the security
agencies. But often they were not taken seriously. Instead of seeing them as
the group with the biggest potential to make our maritime boundaries more
secure, the security agencies often created problems for them. In fact,
fishermen had been the main victims of terrorist and pirates, be it from
Pakistan or Sri Lanka, he said.

In the wake of the Mumbai incidents, there should be a genuine relationship
in an organised manner between the security forces and the fishing
community.

There should be a formal understanding to bring the community to play a role
in the national security loop as informants.

Mr. Debnath said that the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Notification would
be a big challenge to national security. The notification would open up the
coast for private ports, with immunity to the law. They also posed a
challenge to the environment and the livelihood of the fishing community.

NFF secretary and president of the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali
Federation, T. Peter, said that the fishing community was instinctively
coastal protectors. Fishermen were the de facto protectors of the 3 km coast
of the Vikram Sarabai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The establishment
may have CISF guards on the land, but the sea was under the vigil of the
fishing community.

He wanted the government to support the efforts of the fishermen by
providing them good communication equipment at concessional rates. Often the
fishermen were the first to notice mystery vessels on the high seas off our
coast, he said. But when the information was passed on to the security
agencies, they were simply ignored.

He said granting permit to over 50 Indonesian fishing vessels to utilise the
facilities of the Munambam habour near Kochi was not the right step in the
present situation. Any vessel could misuse the permits to enter the harbour.