BHUBANESWAR: Environmentalists have urged the state government to enact the Odisha Regulation of Fishing and Fisheries in Chilika Bill, 2017 in the upcoming monsoon session of the Assembly to protect the fragile ecosystem and fishermen community of the lagoon from illegal prawn culture.
They also demanded strong action against such unauthorised practice and revival of fisheries cooperative societies in the region. Orissa Environmental Society working president Jaya Krushna Panigrahi, who wrote a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi stated that considering the long-standing demand of the conservationists and fishermen and the direction of the Orissa High Court in 1993, the then state government in its cabinet meeting had approved the proposed Odisha Regulation of Fishing and Fisheries in Chilika Bill, 2017 to take on the illegal prawn farming in the lagoon and to vest the fishing lease power with the Chilika Development Authority (CDA).
The Bill was also intended at reinstating the health of the lake’s ecosystem. Although the matter was also taken up in the Assembly a few times, it was pushed to the cold storage subsequently and is yet to see the light of the day, he said.
Panigrahi stated that Chilika, the first Ramsar site of India, has been under tremendous anthropogenic pressure with detrimental impacts on the lake ecosystem and its biodiversity and is experiencing a series of existential threats.
“Further, the lake has been witnessing over-exploitation of its fishery resources and continued conflicts arise among various stakeholders in the absence of strict enforcement of the Orissa Marine Fisheries Regulation Act (OMFRA),” Panigrahi added.