C Shivakumar
Chennai:
The Indian Coast Guard on Wednesday rejected
the allegations of former atomic energy commission chairman M R Srinivasan that
fish catch in Indian waters has been reduced due to Coast Guard’s inability to
stop poaching of fish from India’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by fishing
trawlers from other countries.
Coast Guard Region (East) commader
inspector general S P Sharma told Express on the sidelines of a painting
competition organized by Coast guard as part of Raising Day celebrations 2014,
that there is no let down in patrolling the EEZ as well as protecting the
economic and security interests of the country.
“He (M R Srinivasan) has the freedom
to literally state what he wishes to. He may be correct on the factors like
effluents from chemical industry, untreated sewage and agrochemicals being
washed into the sea resulting in reduced fish catch,” Sharma said.
But Sharma rejected the allegations
questioning the inability of coast guard to patrol the seas. “I wish he would
have consulted us before making such statement and known the reality,” Sharma added.
He said coast guard has been
vigilant and has apprehended many foreign fishing boats in Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh recently.
His statement comes in the wake of former
AEC chairman stating in a recent newsletter released by Nuclear Power
Corporation of India on its website on Monday that intensive use of trawlers
and other sophisticated fishing methods besides poaching of fish from India’s
exclusive economic zone by fishing trawlers of other countries has reduced the
fish catch due to inability of the Indian Coast Guard to patrol our seas.
On the repatriation of Sri Lankan fishermen, Sharma
said that 78 fishermen who were released from Puzhlal prison in Chennai would
be exchanged for 63 Indian fishermen on the International Maritime Boundary Line
on Thursday.
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