THE HINDU
CHENNAI, February 11, 2015

The Madras High Court has directed the Advocate-General and the amicus curiae in a suo motu case to sit together and work out a method to ensure that no trawler or mechanised fishing vessel is permitted to fish within three nautical miles of the coast.

The First Bench comprising Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice M.M. Sundresh which had taken suo motu cognisance of a press report on death of turtles, after perusing the amicus curiae’s report, asked the Advocate-General, A.L. Somayaji, and the Additional Solicitor General to scrutinise it. The amicus curiae had said the nesting season was only till the end of March and the mechanism under the existing law should be strengthened. The assistance for increasing patrolling could be sought from the Coastal Protection Group and the Coast Guard. This would ensure that no trawler was permitted to carry on fishing activity within three nautical miles from the coast.

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