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Fishermen call Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Plan map 'incomplete'

The CZMP map was released on November 30 despite the draft map released in February this year facing stiff opposition from them on the grounds that they violated the guidelines of the CRZ notification, 2011.

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Fisherfolk and environmental activists in Tamil Nadu on Monday announced that they would intensify their struggle in protest against the state environment department releasing an illegal and incomplete coastal zone management plan map.

The CZMP map was released on November 30 despite the draft map released in February this year facing stiff opposition from them on the grounds that they violated the guidelines of the CRZ notification, 2011.

In the CZMP map, fisherfolk complained that the maps have failed to incorporate features like land use of local fishing communities, long-term plan for fisherfolk, fishing zones and fish breeding areas, violations and high/low water line.

A senior official of the environment department said that the map was released after incorporating the necessary suggestions and objections received from the public in writing and during the public hearing.

Environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman said that more than 11,000 acres of coastal wetlands were brought under the CRZ by conducting simple ground truthing exercises. "The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management used GIS and satellite imagery to prepare a CZMP that showed critical water bodies as land and contained inaccurate demarcations of High Tide Lines. A vigilant community with the expertise that comes from generations of traditional wisdom and experience provided accurately ground-truthed data to rectify the errors of the institutional scientists. In all, 11,000 acres in Nagai, Villupuram, Ramanathapuram and Kanyakumari have been re-included as ecologically sensitive zones thanks to community environmental monitoring," he wrote in his Facebook post reacting to the release of the CZMP map.

The significance of good coastal planning is all the more evident in the backdrop of Cyclone Gaja that devastated the southern coastal districts of Tamilnadu last month, K Saravanan from Urur Kuppam fishing village in Chennai. "Ironically, Government of India diluted CRZ norms to withdraw protection to areas such as those affected by Cyclone Gaja by relaxing development norms in the region between the High Tide Line and the Hazard Line. The hazard line is a line drawn on land to mark the extent to which the impact of the sea through waves, wind, storm surges and sea level rise can be felt," he said.

K Bharathi of the South Indian Fisher Welfare Federation said that the CZMP is the roadmap for how the coastal areas are going to be managed. "Protecting fisher livelihoods and putting in place a long-term housing plan for the coastal communities must be made a priority for the government. We will intensify our struggle to secure a complete, effective coastal plan to safeguard our collective futures" he said.

Difficult Times

The significance of good coastal planning is all the more evident in the backdrop of Cyclone Gaja that devastated the southern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu last month.

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