Chennai: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Southern Zone, has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to revise its draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) maps, highlighting the need for complete information to protect ecosystems and support fishing communities. The tribunal stressed the importance of ground truthing—verifying satellite data with on-ground inspections—to accurately mark ecological zones and critical fishing areas.
The directive follows complaints from fishing communities, who argued that the maps failed to comply with the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2019. The NGT noted the absence of essential details, including fishing zones, village boundaries, and breeding areas, which are vital for sustainable development and resource management along the coast.
Maps for key districts such as Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, and Villupuram were found to be incomplete, excluding significant ecological features like turtle nesting grounds, sand dunes, and mangrove buffers. Concerns were also raised over the lack of proper long-term housing plans for fishermen, especially in light of climate change and rising sea levels.
In response, the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNCZMA) maintained that the maps included fishing harbours, evacuation centres, health facilities, and sensitive ecological areas. It assured that any missing components could be added based on inputs from relevant agencies.
The NGT has instructed the TNCZMA to collaborate with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), a research body under the Union Ministry of Environment, to address the identified gaps before finalizing the maps.
The tribunal also addressed disputes over map scales. Fishing communities requested maps at a 1:4,000 scale for better precision, while the TNCZMA clarified that the 1:25,000 scale was used for consultations, with detailed 1:4,000 scale maps to follow.
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