A new organisation Tamil Nadu Puducherry Meenavar Munnani was formed at Nagapattinam on Sunday to integrate the opposition of the fishing community in all the coastal districts along the two States to Sagar Mala and other projects that are considered destructive to environment. The new organisation that will be registered shortly will undertake a door-to-door campaign to sensitise the people to the livelihood threat caused by the Sagar Mala project. A conference of the new organisation will be conducted at Ramanathapuram on October 21 to discuss the course of sustained action to oppose the project, Convenor of the organisation Kumaravelu, said. The organisation has enlisted the support of registered trade unions and Dalit outfits, he said. The initiative was borne out of the visibly fragmented opposition of the fishing community to the major projects that question their livelihood. The protests carried at the level of individual districts are not taken cognisance of. Hence, the initiative to consolidate the strengths, Mr. Kumaravelu, who is also the vice-president of National Fish Workers Forum (NFWF) said. The Tamil Nadu Puducherry Meenavar Munnani will sensitise fishermen to move the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) to notify a designated corridor for merchant shipsto avoid collision with fishing boats in mid sea. The move is being seen by the fishing community as a unilateral act to protect the interests of commercial shipping companies. The grouse of the fishing community is that they have not been consulted by the Ministry of Shipping for finalisation of the scheme. The DGS is understood to be planning for a corridor which is 15 nautical miles away from the coastline with 20 nautical miles width. This is the main fishing ground where thousands of fishing boats operate and the move by the DGS will completely obstruct their livelihood, the fishing community fears.