Coast Guard's "inability" to protect EEZ : former AEC chairman

Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman M R Srinivasan has alleged that the Coast Guard's "inability" to prevent other countries' trawlers from entering India's Exclusive Economic Zone is affecting fishermen and not effluents from Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.
"...Poaching of fish from India's exclusive economic zone by fishing trawlers from other countries. This happens because of the inability of Indian Coast Guard to patrol our seas," he has said in the latest e-newsletter released by NPCIL in its website.
To a query on the problems faced by people engaged in fishing, he said the traditional fishermen's prosperity is affected by a number of factors.

The other factors include intensive use of trawlers and other sophisticated fishing methods, while the second is poaching of fish from EEZ by trawlers from other countries, he said.
"Effluents from the chemical industry, untreated sewage and agrochemicals being washed into the sea are all causes resulting in reduced fish catch. These factors are very serious and need to be addressed urgently. Kudankulam Nuclear plant is not putting out any effluent that might harm fish life," he said.
The Q&A section appeared in the latest public awareness e-letter issued by KNPP Site Director R S Sundar yesterday.