'Coast Guard not able to patrol Indian waters'

Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman and currently its member, M.R. Srinivasan has alleged the Indian Coast Guard is not able to patrol the country's territorial waters to prevent poaching by foreign trawlers.

"...the poaching of fish from India's exclusive economic zone by fishing trawlers from other countries. This happens because of the inability of the Indian Coast Guard to patrol our seas," Srinivasan said in the Public Awareness e-Newsletter brought out by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), uploaded Monday.

The newsletter for the controversial over Rs.17,000-crore Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) is on the NPCIL website.

Srinivasan voiced his views in his question-answer section of the newsletter on the query about problems faced by people engaged in fishing.

He said the traditional fishermen's prosperity is affected by number of factors like the intensive use of trawlers and other fishing methods.

Srinivasan said: "Effluents from chemical industry, untreated sewage and agro chemicals being washed into the sea are all causes, resulting in reduced fish catch."

These are serious factors that need to be addressed urgently, he said and added the KNPP was not releasing any effluents that might harm fish.