Introduction
Recently, the Government of India has implemented the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) (Amendment) Act, 2023. The Act is intended to amend the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005. It will amend some of the provisions of the 2005 Act. According to the 2023 Amendment Act, some offences under it will be decriminalised so that ease of doing business can be facilitated and the operational procedures of Coastal Aquaculture Authority can be refined. With its implementation, lakhs of small marginal aquaculture farmers will not have to obtain CRZ (coastal regulation zone) clearances from several agencies. The Amendment Act promotes newer forms of environment-friendly coastal aquaculture, such as seaweed culture, pearl oyster culture, cage culture, and marine ornamental fish culture. All these are in line with the advancing landscape and can create thousands of employment opportunities for coastal communities, thereby providing significant revenue. Further, the Amendment Act strives to tackle all ambiguities, incorporate novel aquaculture practices, and reorganise administrative processes.
The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was presented in Parliament by the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala, on April 05, 2023. However, it was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on April 24, 2023. The Committee presented its report on July 21, 2023, and on August 07, 2023, it was passed from the Lok Sabha. On August 09, 2023, the Rajya Sabha also passed it, and on August 12, 2023, the bill received the presidential assent to become an Act.
Main Provisions of the Act
Some of the main provisions of the CAA (Amendment) Act, 2023 are explained below:
- The Amendment Act of 2023 emphasises the prevention of the use of antibiotics and pharmacologically active substances that can have adverse effects on human health in coastal aquaculture.
- As per the Act of 2005, coastal aquaculture has been legalised and involves the farming of shrimp, fish, prawns or any other aquatic creature, under controlled conditions, in brackish (saline) water, along the coastlines or in estuaries. With the implementation of the Amendment Act, the scope of coastal aquaculture has been expanded, thereby involving allied activities, namely, nucleus breeding centres and hatcheries. According to the Act of 2005, coastal aquaculture has been banned in some specific areas. These areas can be creeks (or backwaters) within the CRZ and around 200 metres within the High Tide Line. The Amendment Act modifies this and permits certain allied activities in protected areas. For example, seaweed culture and other such activities are allowed in creeks (or backwaters) within the CRZ. Similarly, nucleus breeding centres and other such activities can be run in zones of no development. Thus, ambiguities between different aspects of coastal aquaculture have been eradicated.
Nucleus breeding centres refer to those centres wherein the cultivation of fish or shrimp is carried out at the larval stage of their life cycle.
- According to the Act of 2005, the CAA performs the following functions:
- To register coastal aquaculture farms
- To monitor the establishment and functioning of aquaculture farms
- To give orders of demolishing farms that create pollution in the environment
The Amendment Act of 2023 includes the following functions under the purview of the 2005 Act:
- To lay down the norms for inputs and discharge of liquid waste from aquaculture farms
- To impose a ban on the use of some specific inputs so as to conserve the environment
- To supervise and control inputs and emissions along with units
- As far as penalties are concerned, the farms in prohibited regions or unregistered farms can be charged with a fine of up to one lakh rupees or imprisonment of up to three years can be imposed as per the 2005 Act. The Amendment Act of 2023 gives a replacement for this penalty and states that
- the cancellation of registration can be done;
- the suspension of the activity may be done;
- the removal of structure may be carried out;
- the destruction of crop may be done; or
- the imposition of penalty may be done.
If coastal aquaculture is found to be in operation illegally, the use of such civil instruments is compliant with today’s advanced regulatory practices.
- The Amendment Act of 2023 provides for altering the certificates of registration if the ownership or the size of the activity is changed. Besides, the CAA can deal with delays in renewing applications by imposing a compounded fee. Thus, the administrative flexibility of the Authority is enhanced.
- The Amendment Act of 2023 authorises the CAA to lay down norms for the discharge of effluents from aquaculture farms, which the owners are required to comply with.
The Amendment Act, 2023 also advocates the ‘Polluter Pays Principle’, under which aquaculture unit owners will be held responsible for any damage done to the environment, if the Authority assesses it, and will have to compensate for the same.
Key Issues and Analysis
Some major issues regarding the CAA (Amendment) Act, 2023 and their analysis are mentioned below:
- As the Amendment Act of 2023 promotes coastal aquaculture, industrial growth may be prioritised over environmental protection.
- It was noticed by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) that the CAA could not perform the existing functions as specified under the 2005 Act properly, let alone the additional functions specified by the Amendment Act of 2023. This is because the authority does not have the required amount of skilled manpower and infrastructure facilities.
The CAG got the following crucial findings:
Inspection In order to inspect all farms throughout the coastline of India, there are merely four authorised technical posts. Besides, no branch (regional) offices have been set up by the Authority for this purpose. The Authority could carry out an inspection of just 246 out of 35,395 registered farms and around 213 out of the 298 registered hatcheries from April 2013 to March 2018. There is no provision to carry out inspections at regular intervals, nor are there any fixed inspection targets to be carried out annually.
Input standards In 2008, a sub-committee was formed by the Authority to lay down the norms regarding input standards. However, no report has been published by the committee yet. So, as of July 2018, the Authority has not fixed any norms whatsoever.
Waste water testing It is extremely critical to treat the wastewater discharged from shrimp farms, as it has solid as well as dissolved materials. In 2011, a laboratory was set up by the Authority for testing wastewater samples gathered from the farms. However, it was observed that no planning has been done to collect and test a fixed number of samples regularly. The Authority collected and tested just 275 samples from March 2011 to April 2016. It was found that almost 30 per cent of these samples consisted of particulate substances above the prescribed limit. However, the Authority did not test any samples from May 2016 to July 2019.
- As per the Amendment Act of 2023, a number of aquaculture activities can be carried out in CRZ, which are under the control of the Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986. As a result, the production of marine products will increase greatly, thereby contributing to the country’s exports. However, there may be adverse effects of intensive coastal aquaculture activities on the environment, including
- hindrance to natural flood water drainage and
- increased salinity in land or wells.
Thus, it must be ensured that aquaculture activities are facilitated without much damage to the environment due to these activities. Considering this, it becomes uncertain if the Ministry of Fisheries is the apt ministry to govern the environmental aspects of coastal aquaculture. The main objective of this ministry is to develop and encourage inland and marine fisheries. So, the ministry may focus on the growth of the aquaculture industry, and the conservation of the coastal environment may take a backseat.
Conclusion
The CAA (Amendment) Act is aimed at facilitating the growth of aquaculture sector in the country. It not only specifies the regulations clearly but also encourages sustainable practices and protects the environment by ensuring the functioning of aquaculture units in an environment-friendly manner. The Government of India seeks to establish units where genetically improved and disease-free stocks are produced to be used in coastal aquaculture. Now, the coastal aquaculture sector is in a position to take the next giant step towards the diversification of species and area expansion.
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