Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023

In news– The Union governemnt has introduced the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Key provisions-

It seeks to amend certain provisions of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005 and decriminalise offences under it for “promoting ease of doing business” and fine-tuning the “operational procedures of Coastal Aquaculture Authority”.
It seeks to clarify that coastal aquaculture and activities connected therewit shall continue to be regulated by the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act and no other Acts.
Under Section 2 (1)(c) of the 2005 Act, “coastal aquaculture” means culturing or cultivating, under controlled conditions in ponds, pens, enclosures, or otherwise, in coastal areas, of shrimp, prawn, fish, or any other aquatic life in saline or brackish water; but does not include freshwater aquaculture.
The 2023 Bill seeks to broaden the definition of coastal aquaculture or coastal aquaculture activity to mean rearing and cultivation of any life stages of fish, including crustacean, mollusc, finfish, seaweed or any other aquatic life under controlled conditions, either indoor or outdoor, in cement cisterns, ponds, pens, cages, rafts, enclosures or otherwise in saline or brackish water in coastal areas, including activities such as production of brood stock, seed, grow out, but does not include fresh water aquaculture.
Additionally, it aims to promote newer forms of environment-friendly coastal aquaculture such as cage culture, seaweed culture, bi-valve culture, marine ornamental fish culture and pearl oyster culture, which, it adds, has the potential for creating employment opportunities on a large scale for coastal fisher communities and especially fisherwomen.
It also aims to encourage the establishment of facilities in areas having direct access to seawater to produce genetically improved and disease-free broodstocks and seeds for use in coastal aquaculture.
Moreover, the Bill seeks to prevent the use of antibiotics and pharmacologically active substances, which are harmful to human health in coastal aquaculture.
The Bill also includes new provisions for “biosecurity”, which refers to measures and strategies for analysing, managing, and preventing the risk of introducing or spreading harmful organisms like viruses and bacteria within the coastal aquaculture unit, which could lead to infectious diseases.
It provides for the introduction of a Brood Stock Multiplication Centre which receives post-larvae or juvenile which are specific pathogen free or tolerant or resistant to such pathogens or other post-larvae or juveniles from a Nucleus Breeding Centre, to be reared under strict biosecurity and disease surveillance.
Many of these biosecurity measures also find a mention in the 2015 Guidelines for Regulating Establishment and Operation of SPF Shrimp Broodstock Multiplication Centres, published by the National Fisheries Development Board, which is part of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries, which used to be a part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The 2023 Bill inserts Section 13A, which allows the CAA to authorise any officer of the Authority or the State Government or the Central Government, not below the rank of Assistant Director of Fisheries in a District, to function as authorised officer to exercise such powers, to discharge such duties and perform such functions, as may be specified in that order.
The new Section 13A also allows the Centre to authorise an officer not below the rank of government Under Secretary to function as an adjudicating officer imposing penalties under the Act.
Besides this, the Centre can an authorise any officer of the Authority or the State Government or the Central Government, not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, to function as the Appellate Authority.
Moreover, the adjudicating officer or the Appellate Authority shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the CPC, 1908 while trying a suit .
Under Section 14, the Bill also seeks to bring about a systematic method for punishments and penalties under the Act.
It says that where any person carries on coastal aquaculture in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act, an officer authorised under section 13A can suspend or stop the activity for a prescribed time or impose penalties as per the Table given in the Bill.
The officer can even order the removal or demolition of any structure or the destruction of any standing crop. The officer may also suspend or cancel the registration of the offender.

Note:

However, this is not the first time that the Centre is proposing an amendment to the 2005 Act. Last year, in October, the government sought to introduce the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in the Winter Session of the Parliament along with 15 other new bills.

What is the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act 2005?

The Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act was enacted by Parliament on June 23, 2005, and it came into force on December 22, 2005.
The Act was introduced for the establishment of a “Coastal Aquaculture Authority” for regulating activities connected with coastal aquaculture in the coastal areas.
Under Section 2 (1) (d) of the Act, “coastal area” meant the area declared as the Coastal Regulation Zone, for the time being, in the government notification dated February 19, 1991, “to regulate activities in the coastal area under section 3 of India’s Environment Protection Act, 1986.”
For the last three decades, this 1991 notification or “subordinate legislation” was the only source of managing coastal zones of India and was intended to balance developmental needs with the protection of natural resources.
Section 4 of the 2005 Act allowed the Centre to establish an authority called the Coastal Aquaculture Authority for regulating coastal aquaculture activities in coastal areas, which would consist of a chairperson who is a current or former HC judge, a coastal aquaculture expert and members nominated by the Central Department of Ocean Development, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce along with four members representing coastal States on a rotation basis and one member secretary.
Section 13 of the 2005 Act relates to the registration for coastal aquaculture. It states that except for the manner provided under it, “no person shall carry on, or cause to be carried on, coastal aquaculture in coastal area or traditional coastal aquaculture in the traditional coastal aquaculture farm which lies within the Coastal Regulation Zone”.
Section 14 was the only penal provision under the 2005 Act, which punished coastal aquaculture or traditional coastal aquaculture in contravention of Section 13, with imprisonment of up to 3 years or a maximum fine of Rs 1 lakh or both.
However, no court could take cognizance of an offence under section 14 without a “written complaint filed by an officer of the Authority authorized in this behalf by it.”

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Source: The Indian Express