CHENNAI: The Union government has proposed to amend the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) Act, and one of the key changes mooted is exempting shrimp hatcheries from the purview of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification and allowing them to operate within the “no-development zone”. The amendment Bill put up for public comments in August, is likely to be tabled during the next parliamentary session.
This development gains significance because only recently, the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered the demolition of all hatcheries within the no-development zone, which is 200 metres from the high tide line (HTL) towards the landward side. The tribunal also directed all hatcheries to obtain CRZ clearance and consent from the TN Pollution Control Board.
Currently, Section 13(8) of the CAA Act prohibits coastal aquaculture within the no-development zone. The amendment proposes to lift the restriction for hatcheries.
“Coastal aquaculture hatchery activity has been an exempted activity ever since the notification of CRZ regulations by the Government. The provisions of Section 13(8) of the CAA Act which intends to bar the farm is misconstrued as applicable to hatcheries as well. Hence it is proposed to exempt such activities from Section 13(8) of the CAA Act (sic),” the Bill reads.
Further, the Bill proposes an amendment to Section 27 to exempt the entire coastal aquaculture from the purview of the CRZ notification. CAA member secretary V Kripa told TNIE: “We may have to seek a stay on the NGT judgment, which will otherwise cripple the entire aquaculture industry and affect the exports.
The shrimp hatcheries are the backbone of providing quality seed to shrimp farms. The Union environment ministry and fisheries ministry are holding discussions, and hopefully, the amendment Bill exempting hatcheries from CRZ notification will be passed shortly.”
The officer said hatcheries were not polluting units and required fresh seawater for their daily operational needs. They were being registered and highly regulated under CAA Act. “Early this year, we took action against unregistered units and closed around 15 hatcheries.”
However, environmentalist Pooja Kumar from Coastal Resource Centre, who is the intervening petitioner in the NGT case and author of a report titled ‘Below the Radar’, says 62 of the 65 hatcheries were within the no-development zone in Chengalpattu and Villupuram coasts, said even if CAA Act amendment Bill is passed, it cannot override CRZ notification.
“The hatcheries are not prohibited but must be regulated under CRZ notification, besides air and water acts, a view which NGT has also taken.”