A day after the Ramanathapuram Fishermen Trade Union staged a protest against installation of buoys for the proposed glass bottom boat eco-tourism project in Gulf of Mannar (GoM) Marine National Park, a large number of traditional fishermen staged a mass protest here on Tuesday. Fishermen, who eke out a living by fishing using vathai’ (small boats) and fisher women by collecting seaweed around the islands in the GoM, staged the protest with their children in front of the Collectorate. Led by M. Karunamoorthy, district secretary of the CITU affiliated to Kadal Thozhilalar Sangam, fisher folk from about 15 hamlets from Erwadi to Chinnapalam joined the protest. Children abstained from schools and joined the protest. After police denied them permission to seek alms to symbolically demonstrate their plight, they staged the protest demanding removal of buoys being installed around the islands of Kurusadai, Poomarichan, Pullivasal and Shingle in GoM and urging the Collector to restrain the forest department from implementing the project. After completing installation of buoys (around four islands), officials would prevent fishermen from going anyway near the islands, Mr. Karunamoorthy alleged. Though officials projected the tourism project as community based, the project would land in the hands of private sector and destroy the livelihood of local people, he alleged. Claiming that the fisher folk played a key role in preserving the biosphere reserve, he said they had been fishing and collecting seaweed in GoM region for several years but caused no harm to coral reefs and marine resources. They would continue and intensify the agitation till the officials removed the buoys and allowed fishermen continued access to the islands. T. K. Ashok Kumar, Wildlife Warden, GoM Marine National Park. said the project was community based and has been conceived to protect and improve the standard of living of the local community. It would in no way affect the livelihood of the community. Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao convened a meeting for Wednesday to discuss the issue and work out a solution. Officials from Forest and Fisheries Departments and fishermen representatives would attend the meeting to be chaired by Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), officials said.
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