Fishers and Scuba Divers Raise Alarm Over Threats to be Posed Over Dugong Habitat
Sri Vijaya Puram, Oct. 23: After having heard of plans to develop Lakshmanpur in Shaheed Dweep as official location for Seawalk and Parasailing, the fishers and scuba divers have raised alarm over the threats to be posed over the habitat of Dugong, the State Animal of A&N Islands. The fishers and scuba divers have sent petitions to A&N Administration with an urgent request to halt all the watersports activities planned for Laxmanpur I &II for local consultation and Dugong habitat preservation.
“There are several questions the local community is unaware of and while we would love to support you in promoting tourism, we cannot do it at the cost of the Dugong which is the main tourist attraction at Shaheed Dweep”, the petitioners stated.
The petitioners have also shot a volley of questions over the decision and attached data and scientific papers on Dugong. “The proposed project completely destroys their habitat and we are already seeing their sightings drop due to parasailing activity in the bay”, said the petitioners.
The petitioners requested that the Watersports be limited to Bharatpur Beach as they currently are and both parasailing as well as Seawalk be conducted in that area.