shrimp farms and an oil refinery.
The people's movement against industrial shrimp farming led to a court order to shut down the farms within 500 metres of the coastline. But the shrimp industry tried to undo environmental protection laws by seeking exemption from the government. We calculate that every acre of shrimp farming has an ecological footprint of 100 acres in terms of destruction of mangroves and the surrounding land, along with sea pollution. Every dollar generated by shrimp exports leaves behind $10 of ecological and economic destruction.
Conversely, the indigenous tribes of Andaman and Nicobar - the Onges, Jarawas, Sentinelese and Shompen - who engage in traditional fishing methods, had the lowest casualties, even though they were closest on the Indian sub-continent to the epicentre of the earthquake.
The government of Kerala state, observing that the tsunami left less destruction in regions protected by mangroves than barren and exposed beaches, has started a project for insulating coasts with mangroves.
Second, the tsunami shows us how severe the costs of continuing business as usual can be. The tsunami should wake up people like [Bjorn] Lomberg [an environmentalist who has questioned global warming]. They should ask the people of the Maldives whether they accept the inevitability of irreversible sea-level rise due to climate change induced by the burning of fossil fuels. I felt nature was telling us: "This is what sea-level rise will look like, this is how entire societies will be robbed of their ecological space to live in peace on the planet."
The third lesson is that environmental vulnerability must be reduced, not increased, and the true costs of damaging development taken into account.
10 January 2005, Mannam Memorial National Club, Trivandrum
Over one hundred people, consisting of fishermen and women, government officials, NGO activists and scientists, participated in the one-day Consultation on “Tsunami Disaster: Implications and Lessons for the Future”, organized by the South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS) in Trivandrum, Kerala, on 10 January 2005. The following are the recommendations made by the Consultation:
1. Coastal zone protection
6. Social security measures
This article comes from Tsunami 2004 India: Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
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Marine fisheries and aquaculture infrastructure in many coastal areas destroyed or damaged
13 January 2005 , Rome -- The tsunami waves have had a devastating impact on the fisheries sector in many countries of the Indian Ocean , FAO said today.
In Sri Lanka , more than 7 500 fishers have been killed by the tsunami and over 5 600 are still missing. More than 5 000 Sri Lankan fishing families have been displaced and 80 percent of coastal fishing vessels have been completely destroyed or very seriously damaged, including around 19 000 boats. Ten out of the 12 main fishing harbours in the country have been completely devastated including infrastructure such as ice plants, cold rooms, workshops and slipways.
FAO has already sent fisheries experts to Sri Lanka to advise the government on the repair and rehabilitation of fishing harbours and infrastructure, fishing boats and fishing gear.
In the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province of Indonesia , where 42 000 fishers and their families live, 70 percent of the small-scale fishing fleet have been destroyed. In Nias Island , about 800 fishing canoes have been destroyed. Two thirds of local fisherfolk from the capital Banda Aceh were killed by the waves.
Fish farming was severely affected in northern Sumatra with about 1 000 fish cage farms having been completely destroyed.
"FAO is currently assessing the damage and will help the government and local authorities to repair and replace fishing boats and gear and start with the initial repair of water fishponds and infrastructure so that fish production can be resumed as soon as possible," said Jeremy Turner, Chief of the Fishery Technology Service.
In the affected coastal areas of Thailand , 3