Traditional fishermen may soon find themselves in troubled waters if the government succeeds in having a new set of rules passed on the management of coastal zones in India. The new notification seeks to replace the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 1991 that sought to regulate developmental activities in coastal zones in India. The new draft notification of the ministry of environment and forests on coastal zone management, issued in June this year, will allow developmental activities in coastal zones that have traditionally been inviolate. It also gives a clean chit to industrial activities within these areas.

The original notification divided coastal areas into four zones — coastal regulation zones (CRZ) I, II, III and IV — for regulation of development activities according to ecological importance. Coastal regulation zone I was categorised as an ecologically sensitive zone where there could be no development activities and no new construction with very few concessions. Coastal regulation zone II was declared an area where development up to a certain point near the shoreline was allowed. “These consisted of areas that were substantially built up (greater than 50 per cent as of 1991) or those areas that had municipalities or corporations,” explains Pradip Kumar Chatterjee, chief coordinator, National Fishworkers Forum (NFF).

“These regulations of the original notification, although not perfect, took cognizance of the existing biodiversity and the needs of the fishermen in these areas,” says Sanjiv Gopal, campaigns manager of oceans, Greenpeace India. Even for coastal regulation zone III, an area that was designated as any place other than CRZs I and II, there was a no-development zone up to 200 metres from the high tide line — the line on the land up to which the water reaches till spring tide.

But the new draft is set to change all these measures of protection since a concession for industrial infrastructure construction, such as ports and harbours, mining sites and even special economic zones, is on the anvil.

According to the new draft, the zones have been demarcated as coastal management zones that are equivalent to coastal regulation zones in the previous notification. “So the coastal management zone I now will no longer be a no-development zone as it was previously demarcated because land use will be permitted by the Integrated Coastal Management Zone Plan and environmental concerns will be subsumed by economic considerations,” says Sudarshan Rodrigues, senior research associate at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment in Bangalore. Agrees T. Mohan, a lawyer at Madras High Court, “The new draft weakens the impact of the law on environmentally unsustainable activities.”

Environmental campaigners and lawyers point out that there has been rampant violation of the original notification and any new relaxations in a new notification are bound to cause damage to the environment. The notification of 1991 was amended 19 times and in 2004, a committee headed by scientist M.S. Swaminathan was constituted to review the notification and make suggestions for the framing of a new draft. “What we need is an Act, not merely changes to the existing notification. That is the principal problem,” regrets Sanjay Upadhyay, a Delhi-based environmental lawyer and managing partner of the Enviro Legal Defence Firm, a legal consultancy firm. He contends that the latest draft notification does not take into account the fact that marine environmental issues in India are covered by at least 10 ministries spanning 28 laws and 17 international conventions that India is party to. “Rather than make amendments and drafts, the government should frame a proper law to set parameters for the regulation of coastal zone activities,” he says.

A major criticism of the recommendations of the Swaminathan committee constituted to review the original coastal regulation zone notification is that although it considered the interests of all the stakeholders in the coastal zone management plan, it never consulted the traditional fishermen (most vulnerable to any activity) while making recommendations for the new draft. “They would lose out if any developmental activity is allowed in coastal areas,” notes Bharati Jairaj, a lawyer at Madras High Court. Agrees Norma Alvares, a Bombay High Court lawyer, “The new notification is not based on adequate research at the micro level and does not take into account the needs of traditional fishing communities and the ecological sensitivity of coastal areas.”

The draft also mentions an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan that is to be executed by a National Board of Sustainable Coastal Zone Management, to be formed to provide policy advice to the central government. The state governments would also be required to set up coastal management zone authorities.

The inclusion of 12 nautical miles of the ocean in the new notification under the purview of the coastal management zone is considered a welcome move by some campaigners. That’s because it would extend environmental protection measures to the sea as well as the land. But others point out that it may pave the way for industrial fishing and cause widescale ecological damage. Dissonance rages widely throughout the country on the new notification. “We are organising an all-India protest on August 9 against it,” says Chatterjee of NFF.

Only time will tell whether the protest will serve its purpose.