7 months ago
1
Traditional fishermen from villages betwixt Kanathur Reddykuppam and Mamallapuram’s Kokkilimedu person urged the Department of Fisheries and Fisherfolk Welfare not to contented a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the projected Kovalam estuary water-storage project.
In a petition submitted to the Assistant Director’s bureau successful Neelankarai connected Friday, the fishermen said the task would endanger some their livelihoods and the fragile estuarine ecosystem. On December 8, a gathering was held among 12 sportfishing villages astir Kovalam.
The projected reservoir spans 4,375 acres betwixt East Coast Road and Old Mahabalipuram Road. It is designed to store 1.655 TMC of freshwater, fed by monsoon runoff from a 41,408-ha catchment linked to 69 upstream tanks. The Water Resources Department has planned a obstruction crossed the Kovalam estuary to forestall seawater intrusion. The Tamil Nadu State Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNSCZMA) granted Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for the task connected December 3, with a information that the Fisheries Department indispensable certify that accepted sportfishing activities volition not beryllium affected.
The fishermen said this information could not beryllium met arsenic the task would chopped disconnected tidal travel astatine the estuary mouth, which is simply a important breeding portion for food and prawns, and destruct the earthy premix of saline and freshwater, which supports biodiversity. They argued that immoderate alteration to the estuarine strategy would illness section food populations, straight threatening hundreds of households babelike connected backwater fishing.
Soundara Pandian, a fisherman from Kovalam, said protecting sportfishing livelihoods was the department’s superior responsibility, and requested officials to grounds their objections with the State authorities and withhold the NOC. He besides expressed interest that the task was cleared without capable consultation with the affected communities.
