Eco tourism should not affect our livelihood, say fishermen

A day after a section of traditional fisherfolk staged a protest against the introduction of eco-tourism in Gulf of Mannar, apprehending threat to their livelihood, a group of fishermen has offered support to the project provided it did not infringe on their livelihood.

In their petition to Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao here on Tuesday, R. Muneesaran and K. Murugesan, leaders of Therkkuvadi and Chinnapalam fishing hamlets said they apprehended that the project would hit their livelihood and urged the Collector to allay their apprehensions.

They had been fishing and collecting seaweed around the islands in Gulf of Mannar (GoM) for generations and feared that the installation of buoys around the four islands, ahead of the introduction of eco-tourism with glass bottom boat was aimed at preventing them from getting closer to the islands.

They had been fishing and collecting seaweed around the islands without causing any harm to the coral reefs or the biosphere reserve and they would have no objection if the tourism project was implemented while protecting their livelihood, they said.

BJP leaders D. Kuppuramu and K. Muraleedharan who accompanied the fishermen wanted the officials to allay the apprehensions of the fisherfolk before going ahead with the project. Pointing that no project could be implemented successfully without the support of the local people, they wanted the officials in the forest department and GoM Marine National Park to take the local community into confidence.

After receiving the petitions, Mr. Rao assured to convene a meeting of the fisherfolk with Revenue Division Officer, local Tahsildar and Forest department officials to resolve the issue. The BJP would offer full support to the project if the officials clarified that it would no way affect the livelihood of the fishermen, the leaders said.

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