The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023
Recently, The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023 has been introduced in the Lok Sabha.
- The bill has been introduced by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The bill aims to amend the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) Act, 2005.
- The Bill seeks to expand the scope of coastal aquaculture, address regulatory gaps and reduce regulatory compliance burden without diluting environmental protection rules in coastal areas.
- The Coastal Aquaculture Authority was established by the CAA Act of 2005. It was established to regulate activities related to coastal aquaculture.
- This authority regulates coastal aquaculture, grants licenses and promotes eco-friendly practices for sustainable development.
- It’s headquarter is located in Chennai.
Key provisions of the Bill
- In order to promote ease of doing business, a number of acts have been decriminalized under the Act. Apart from this, efforts have also been made to improve the working procedures of CAA.
- After the latest amendment, in case of offenses only a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh can be imposed and there will be no imprisonment of any kind.
- Environment-friendly aquaculture practices like cage culture, seaweed culture and bi-valve culture will be promoted to generate employment.
- The use of harmful antibiotics and pharmacologically active substances in coastal aquaculture will be banned to protect human health.
- Global best practices including mapping and zoning of aquaculture areas and safe aquaculture products will be adopted.
- Aquaculture is the rearing, breeding and harvesting of human-consumable sea creatures like fish, shellfish etc. Also, sea plants are also cultivated.
- There has been an increase in shrimp production and seafood exports in the year 2021-22.
Source – The Hindu
