TN fishermen to stage protest in Delhi against ban on fishing Sea Cucumber

Chennai, March 14 The fishermen association affiliated with the Congress party, All India Fishermen Congress will conduct a protest march in New Delhi in April against the Sea Cucumber fishing ban.

The Union government banned the fishing of Sea Cucumber in 2001 citing it as an endangered species. The fishermen of Ramanathapuram district have been vociferous in demanding to lift the ban on fishing this species.

Suryakumar Swamy, a fisherman in Ramanathapuram while speaking to said, "Sea Cucumber fetches huge revenue and its mainly exported to countries like China and Japan where it is used as food as well as medicine. The Government of India has banned the netting of Sea Cucumber since 2001 and this has taken away a lucrative business opportunity for thousands of fishermen in the Ramanathapuram area where large quantities of Sea Cucumber are seen."

He said that the fishermen of Ramanathapuram have been regularly petitioning to all the governments since 2001 to lift the ban through the local parliamentar and the state government but there was no response from the government.

It is to be noted that there is almost one case registered on a daily basis on smuggling of Sea Cucumber from India, especially from the Ramanathapuram coast.

Amstrong Fernando, leader of the All India Fishermen Congress while speaking to said, "The BJP government banned the catching of Sea Cucumber in 2001 citing this as an endangered species. He said that there are more than 10 species of Sea Cucumber in the Ramanathapuram coast alone and of this, we request the government to lift the ban on catching three types, red, white, and black varieties."

He said that the Sea Cucumbers are capable of laying a large number of eggs every six months and added that the count of the marine animal's population has increased immensely.

Fernando urged the Central government to lift the ban so that the sale of Sea Cucumbers increases, fetching good profits for the local fishermen.

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