Mangaluru : The traditional fishermen staged a protest holding placards opposing the proposed coastal berth project to be initiated under the Sagarmala project at Bengre in Mangaluru by placing their boats on the shore on Friday.

According to the proposal, 70 cargo vessels up to 5,000-tonne capacity will be able to berth in the facility. It will have a commercial wharf, double lane approach road, passenger lounge, godown, and others. The protesters alleged that the coastal berth project will take away the anchoring facility for the traditional fishing boats, engaged in fishing in the Bengre area.

The protesters urged the government to stop the proposed project to help the traditional fishermen to eke out a living. They alleged that the coastal berth project is being taken up in an unscientific manner amid the protest by the residents on the shores of Phalguni river at Bengre.

Phalguni Nadadoni Meenugarara Sangha, Mangaluru Honorary President Muneer Katipalla, said that the project will affect the traditional fishing carried out by a large number of fishermen. The projects under Sagarmala and others will be a death-knell for the fishermen community. The project conspires to help corporates to take up fishing activities from the hands of fishing community members, she addded.

The traditional fishermen who have been depending on the catch of clam, crabs using traditional methods in the backwater of Phalguni and Nethravathi rivers will lose their source of living, said sangha president Abdul Tayyub Bengre.