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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0in;text-align:center;text-indent:0in" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) Trust</span></b><br>

<br>
<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Documentation
Centre</span></b><br>
<br>
<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Weekly
News Alert</span></b><br>
<br>
<b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">21
January to 25 January 2013</span></b></p>

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<br>
Dear Subscriber,<br>
<br>
Please find below web links of ICSF DC Weekly News Alert from 21 January to 25
January 2013.<br>
<br>
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<b><br>
West Bengal: Online petition for protection of North Bengal wetlands</b><br>
<a href="http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/online-petition-for-protectionnorth-bengal-wetlands/112028/">http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/online-petition-for-protectionnorth-bengal-wetlands/112028/</a><br>

<br>
Raising concern over the rapid disappearance of wetlands in North Bengal,
conservationists from around the world have started an online petition
demanding urgent action to protect the ecologically sensitive region. 'Save the
Wetlands of North Bengal' has so far been signed by over 36,000 green activists
and will be submitted to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when it
achieves half-a- lakh mark...<br>
<br>
<b>Andhra Pradesh: Drying of fish on road throwing hygiene to winds</b><br>
<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/drying-of-fish-on-road-throwing-hygiene-to-winds/article4311942.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/drying-of-fish-on-road-throwing-hygiene-to-winds/article4311942.ece</a><br>

<br>
Solid waste management in several parts of the city, particularly in commercial
areas and localities where poorer sections live, needs to be improved a lot.
Sanitation has always been a recurring problem at the area around Fishing
Harbour at Jalaripeta. The drying of fish next to a heap of garbage raises
several questions on hygiene. While the fisherfolk should not dry the fish on
the road, the municipal corporation also should lift the garbage from such
areas more frequently...<br>
<b><br>
Tamil Nadu: Fishermen oppose Kudankulam project</b><br>
<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/fishermen-oppose-kudankulam-project/article4326596.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/fishermen-oppose-kudankulam-project/article4326596.ece</a><br>

<br>
The National Fishermen Forum (NFF) on Sunday decided to observe Monday as the
National Day of Protest against the commissioning of Kudankulam Nuclear Power
Project. A resolution adopted at the general body of the forum said that the
commissioning of the project would ruin the livelihood of hundreds of fishermen
in southern coastal districts of Tamil Nadu. Several cases had been filed
against the fishermen who held peaceful agitations...<br>
<br>
<b>Kerala: Supreme Court’s  Enrica judgment may restrict action against
erring ships</b><br>
<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/scs-enrica-judgment-may-restrict-action-against-erring-ships/article4333292.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/scs-enrica-judgment-may-restrict-action-against-erring-ships/article4333292.ece</a><br>

<br>
The Supreme Court’s judgment on Enrica Lexie last week was unambiguous in
declaring that the Italian marines must stand trial in India for now. But the
Court’s reasoning may have far reaching consequences for the case as well as
for how India can interpret its jurisdiction in waters beyond the 12-nautical
mile line from the coast that marks the formal extent of its territory...<br>
<b><br>
Maharashtra: Don't categorise fishermen as ‘bulk consumers’: Kamat</b><br>
<a href="http://zeenews.india.com/news/maharashtra/don-t-categorise-fishermen-as-bulk-consumers-kamat_823839.html">http://zeenews.india.com/news/maharashtra/don-t-categorise-fishermen-as-bulk-consumers-kamat_823839.html</a><br>

<br>
Former Union Minister Gurudas Kamat has appealed to the Centre not to include
fishermen in bulk consumer category and withdraw the hike of Rs 10 per litre in
diesel fare.  In a letter to Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on
Saturday, Kamat demanded that fishermen be removed from the category of
"bulk consumers" to enable them to get diesel for fishing trawlers at
the normal hiked rate of additional 0.50 paise per litre for general consumers
that was announced yesterday...<br>
<br>
<b>Goa: Fish prices rise as trawlers continue strike</b><br>
<a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-26/goa/36563483_1_fish-prices-trawler-owners-menino-afonso">http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-26/goa/36563483_1_fish-prices-trawler-owners-menino-afonso</a><br>

<br>
The strike by owners of fishing trawlers is likely to intensify Saturday
afternoon onwards with the Central government yet to respond to their demand to
withdraw the diesel price hike.Mandovi fishermen marketing cooperative society
chairman Menino Afonso said around 80% of trawler owners have joined the
strike, while the remaining 20% boats still out at sea and have been informed
to return to port and join the strike...<br>
<br>
<b>India: India to challenge US petition on shrimp import</b><br>
<a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-05/kochi/36161365_1_cvd-petition-indian-seafood-industry">http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-05/kochi/36161365_1_cvd-petition-indian-seafood-industry</a><br>

<br>
India will legally challenge the countervailing duty (CVD) petition filed by
the Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries (COGSI) in the US, the Seafood
Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said on Friday.  COGSI, a body of
shrimp producers based in the Gulf of Mexico in US, last week filed a petition,
seeking relief from subsidised shrimp imports from seven countries including
India and demanding imposing 21% duty on imports...<br>
<br>
<b>Sri Lanka: Indian Coast Guard arrests 21 Sri Lankan fishermen</b><br>
<a href="http://www.colombopage.com/archive_13A/Jan19_1358588153CH.php">http://www.colombopage.com/archive_13A/Jan19_1358588153CH.php</a><br>
<br>
Jan 19, Chennai: Indian Coast Guard has arrested 21 Sri Lankan fishermen for
allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and entering
Indian waters. The 21 fishermen from Trincomalee were travelling in four boats
as they crossed the IMBL and entered Indian waters off the Andhra Pradesh coast
for fishing, according to the Chennai police...<br>
<br>
<b>Sri Lanka: Universities address the concerns of post-war northern fishing
communities and the Palk Bay Indian trawler problem</b><br>
<a href="http://www.reincorpfish.info/news-and-announcements">http://www.reincorpfish.info/news-and-announcements</a><br>
<br>
The Universities of Jaffna and Ruhuna co-organised an international workshop on
the challenges facing the long suffering fishing communities in Northern Sri
Lanka. The workshop discussed the findings of a two year long research project
on the Palk Bay fishing problem with the partnership of the University of
Jaffna, University of Ruhuna, the Madras Institute of Development Studies and
the University of Amsterdam...<br>
<b><br>
Bangladesh: Fisheries want Bangladesh workers</b><br>
<a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/332034/50000-workers-from-bangladesh-sought">http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/332034/50000-workers-from-bangladesh-sought</a><br>
<br>
The fishing industry wants the government to work with authorities in
Bangladesh to supply 50,000 workers to solve a labour shortage in Thailand's
growing fisheries industry. The National Fisheries Association of Thailand has
also proposed that the government consider registering Rohingya people smuggled
into Thailand and detained near the Malaysian border in Songkhla province as
foreign workers for recruitment into the fishing industry...<br>
<br>
<b>Pakistan: Rehman Malik orders release of all Indian fishermen held in
Pakistani jails</b><br>
<a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rehman-malik-orders-release-of-all-indian-fishermen-held-in-pakistani--jails/1063603/">http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rehman-malik-orders-release-of-all-indian-fishermen-held-in-pakistani--jails/1063603/</a><br>

<br>
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has ordered the release of all Indian
fishermen held in Pakistani jails. India released four Pakistanis, including a
woman, from jail and who have now arrived in Lahore, reports The Express
Tribune. Earlier on Monday, Pakistan had arrested 27 Indian fishermen for
illegally straying into its territorial waters...<br>
<br>
<b>Pakistan: Govts, IFIs collaborate to dam rivers, ruin ecology: PFF</b><br>
<a href="http://dawn.com/2013/01/24/govts-ifis-collaborate-to-dam-rivers-ruin-ecology-pff/">http://dawn.com/2013/01/24/govts-ifis-collaborate-to-dam-rivers-ruin-ecology-pff/</a><br>
<br>
All governments of the world, including Pakistan’s, and international financial
institutions have collaborated with one another to ruin ecology of rivers and
deltaic regions by imprisoning them with dams in the name of development, says
chairman of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Syed Mohammad Ali Shah...<br>
<br>
<b>NFF Letter to Prime Minister of India: On Indian migrant fishermen engaged
in fishing for other countries</b><br>
Source: NFF<br>
<br>
I beg to bring to your kind notice the following issue that needs for very
urgent intervention of your good self. There are many Indian fishermen working
in Qatar. 29 of them, hailing from Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu and
employed with a Qatar company, were arrested by the Iran Coast Guard on 11
October when they unknowingly strayed into Iran's territorial waters with their
fishing boats for want of visa. Later on 26th December, due to the positive
response of Government of India to the request of us, they are released after
the company paid the fine.  However, the boat was not released from Kish
Island. <br>
<br>
They were initially provided with some provisions by the company. They are
staying in the boat from then and the provision is exhausted. They were not
provided any basic amenities. They are in almost stranded status right now for
over fifteen days and with insufficient provisions. They are literally dying
without food. I am forced to site the example of initiatives taken by the
Italian government in protecting the well being of their mariners arrested in
Kerala. Ministers from Italy came here to visit the two Italian Mariners who
were released even though they are accused of murder. I very much hope that,
for the sake of the women and children of these fishermen, your good self will
be able to order the External Affairs Ministry to send some special envoy to do
the needful to get the fishermen sent back to India with proper care and as
early as possible.<br>
<br>
The women and children of the 29 families have decided to go on indefinite
hunger strike from December 17th at Nagercoil demanding the safe return of
their family members held in Kish Island. I very much hope that your good self
would be able to ensure that there is no necessity for them to go on the indefinite
fast. Thanking you in anticipation on behalf of the poor women and children of
stranded fishermen.<br>
<br>
M. ILANGO<br>
General Secretary<br>
<br>
<br>
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<br>
</span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Disclaimer <br>
<br>
The materials comprising the DC News Alerts are provided by the Documentation
Centre of International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) Trust, as a
service to its readers and users of its website on an "as-is,
as-available" basis for informational purposes only.. ICSF assumes no
responsibility for any errors or omissions in these Alerts or in the materials
they contain. The opinions and positions expressed in these stories are those
of the authors/sources concerned and do not necessarily represent the official
views of ICSF.  This message has been received through email from ICSF DC.
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