The Hindu : Karnataka News : Appeal to lift ban on ‘sea cucumber’ fishing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 14, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Appeal to lift ban on ‘sea cucumber’ fishing

Special Correspondent

MANGALORE: The National Fishworkers Forum has appealed to the Prime Minister to lift the ban order issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on fishing of sharks and other species following the changes made in the National Wildlife Protection agenda.

In a letter sent by the leader of the forum Rev. Fr. Thomas Kocherry, it has been mentioned that shark and 63 other items have been banned by the Ministry based on a notification issued on July 11, 2001 under sub-section (1) of Section 61 of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. It was unfortunate that sea cucumber and shark have been included in Schedules I and IV of Wild Life (Protection) Act, it has said.

The letter has said that the forum had voiced its protest against this notification and though it had met the Minister for Environment and Forests many times, the desired result has not come by.

The letter, a copy of which is available with The Hindu, has said that some fishermen were arrested by the police on the charge of violating the ban order.

These fishermen landed in jail only because they followed the old type of fishing. It said that there are about 650 varieties of sea cucumber. Nearly 200 of them are available in the Indian sea waters, of which 75 are known to exit in shallow waters of 20 m depth. Of these, about a dozen species have commercial value.

In India, six varieties are used for processing. For processing, a sea cucumber should be large in size. Sea cucumber are usually collected by divers. About 10,000 families depend on sea cucumber for their livelihood.

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