New Delhi, Oct 25: This fishing season has brought no cheer to the over 10,000 odd fishermen active on Jumbudwip Island, following the West Bengal Government's decision to disallow fishing activities there. A batch of 1,400 Santhal fishermen, who tried to reach the island last week, were reportedly beaten up and chased away by police on the pretext of implementing the Supreme Court's directive barring mechanised boats and trawlers. The fate of these fishermen, and an equal number of those engaged in fishing-related activities, now seems uncertain unless the Supreme Court's interim order is interpreted in the right context. While the State Government points out that the order, passed on August 25 this year, banned all fishing activities on the island to protect the biodiversity, the National Fisherworkers' Forum (NFF) and the Environmental Justice Initiative (EJI) — which have taken up the issue — suggest that the ban is only on the use of mechanised boats and trawlers, and not on the country boats. In fact, some fishermen are on the verge of bankruptcy because they have already made advance payments to the labour and bought tools and implements for fishing, according to NFF and EJI activists. The Supreme Court that was supposed to meet a month after its interim order is yet to decide on the case.
Spread over 2,250 hectares, south of the Sunderbans in the Bay of Bengal, Jumbudwip Island has been the source of livelihood for the Santhal families who do not categorise themselves as part of the fishing community but fishing has been their profession since 1955. These transient fishermen restrict fishing and fish drying activities between October and February as the island remains uninhabited except in this season. A large number of people also get employment by way of net-making, boat-building, transportation and bamboo crafts.
Trouble for these people started following the Supreme Court's order of 1996 in the T.N. Godhavarman vs. the Union of India case and the later circular issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in May 2002 directing the State Governments to evict the forest lands encroached after 1980.
Following the intervention of environmentalists, the matter was sent to the central empowered committee that in its report, delivered on December 20, 2002, and directed eviction of fishermen by March 31, 2003. According to the environmental activists, the Wildlife Protection Act specifies that the occupational interests of the local fishermen were to be protected even in the areas declared a sanctuary or a national park. In the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, issued under the Environment Protection Act, 1976, the "traditional and customary rights" of the fishing community have to be protected and natural fish drying and hatchery had been exempted from the prohibition even in CRZ and hence these fishermen should be allowed to carry out their activities.