Can Kerala Save Its Seas? Centre’s Deep-Sea Mining Sparks Backlash
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New Delhi’s decision to auction, for the first time in the country, 13 offshore mineral blocks for deep-sea mining, vide the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023, has met with a rare show of political unity in Kerala. Following protest demonstrations by fish workers’ unions, the ruling party and the opposition in the State have come together to unanimously oppose the project.
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The protest has also extended to Delhi, where Kerala MPs went on a protest march to Parliament seeking a complete halt to the projects. Within Parliament, demands were raised to conduct “impartial” environmental impact studies before allocating the blocks to private entities. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi demanded cancellation of the tenders floated for allocating 13 offshore mineral blocks. Rahul Gandhi stated in his letter that while there were grave concerns over the impact of offshore mining on the livelihood of millions of fisherfolk, the tenders were floated without any consultations with stakeholders or an assessment of the long-term socio-economic impact on coastal communities.
Talking to this correspondent, Charles George, president of the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi, an independent union of the State’s fish workers, said: “Fishermen communities, whose livelihoods will be impacted the most from offshore mining activities, were not consulted before tenders were floated for the auctioning of the mineral blocks. The Bill to amend the Act governing regulation of offshore mineral resources in the country was rushed through. It was not routed through a Joint Parliamentary Committee, which could have critically analysed its finer details. Besides, the Bill was passed without proper debate and discussion at a time when Parliament activities were nearly frozen by the opposition over the Central government’s apathy towards the continuing violence in Manipur.”
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Efforts to unlock “blue economy”
The amended Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act of 2023 provides for 50-year fixed composite licences (meaning licences for exploration and production) to successful bidders for offshore mineral blocks, instead of periodic renewals as laid down in the Act of 2002. The new Act stipulates that the licensees should complete exploration activities satisfactorily within a period of three years from the date of grant of the composite licences. The earlier Act stipulated that operating rights of mineral blocks would be granted through a process of discretionary allocation.
Also Read | Sikkim divests stake in profitable Teesta III project to Greenko amid questions
The amendments, part of efforts to unlock the “blue economy”, have made way for the granting of licences by auction through a process of competitive bidding. (According to the World Bank, “blue economy” is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health.) But the amended Act also makes it clear that operating rights for exploration and production of offshore atomic minerals—the ores of uranium, thorium, and monazite, for example—will be granted only to government-owned companies.
In November 2024, the Central government launched the first tranche of auction bids for offshore mineral blocks. Bids were invited for grant of composite licences for three blocks of construction-grade sand off the coast of Kerala, three blocks of lime mud off the coast of Gujarat, and seven blocks of polymetallic nodules and crust off the Great Nicobar Island in the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar. Although protests have erupted in Kerala, where a Left Democratic Front government has been in power since 2016, no opposition to the tenders has been reported so far from Gujarat, which is under the rule of a BJP government, or from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which, being a Union Territory, is directly under the Central government’s rule.
Highlights
-
New Delhi’s decision to auction 13 offshore mineral blocks for deep-sea mining has met with a rare show of political unity in Kerala.
-
Fish workers are opposing the plan and the ruling Left Democratic Front and the opposition Congress are also opposed to it.
-
There has been no opposition in BJP-ruled Gujarat or in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which being a UT is ruled directly by the Centre.
Parliament passsed the Bill to amend Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002—which opens India’s offshore minerals to private entities—in a tearing hurry. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 27, 2023, and passed on August 1, 2023, after just five days, which included a weekend when the House did not meet. The Rajya Sabha passed it on August 3, 2023, when opposition MPs staged a walkout over the violence in Manipur.
“All that the government has done so far in terms of public participation in the auctioning of the blocks is holding roadshows and webinars. This, however, has been met with opposing roadshows by fish-worker communities who are likely to be affected by the project,” said George.
“Coastal strike” against Centre’s roadshow
In May 2024, the Union Ministry of Mines organised a workshop in New Delhi to highlight the untapped reservoirs of minerals in offshore areas and their potential to catalyse economic growth. After floating tenders for the 13 blocks, the ministry organised a webinar in December 2024 in which officials shared “detailed insights into the geology and mineral potential of the identified offshore blocks”. The Centre also held a roadshow in Kerala in January 2025 to highlight its vision of turning India into a global leader in offshore mining.
In response to the roadshow, a 24-hour “coastal strike” was called on February 27 by fish workers’ unions allied to the Congress and Left parties in Kerala. On the day of the strike, fish-landing centres and fish markets across Kerala remained shut while fish workers in large numbers took to the streets in protest against the proposed auction.
The Great Nicobar coastline. In 2024, bids were invited for grant of composite licences for seven blocks of polymetallic nodules and crust off the Great Nicobar Island.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
In March 2025, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan opposing the Central government’s plans to allow deep-sea mining through private entities by amending the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002. The resolution expressed concerns about the potential of the projects to adversely impact marine ecology and biodiversity and affect the livelihoods of fish workers.
Notably, the local unit of the Congress in Ernakulam district has called out the Left government’s ambivalence on offshore mining by pointing out that the roadshow organised by the Union Ministry of Mines in Kochi on January 10, 2025, was partly funded by a state-run public sector unit of the Kerala government.
After the issuance of tenders for the 13 blocks, many fish workers’ unions from Kerala came together to write to the Union Ministry of Mines, urging it to re-examine the decision in the light of the catastrophic consequences that the proposed mining projects could have on ecology and fishing activities.
Centre rules out review of decision
However, notwithstanding the protests and the opposition, the Central government has categorically informed the Lok Sabha that any question of “reviewing the mining tender process does not arise”. Union Minister of Mines G. Kishan Reddy has said that there are adequate provisions in the Act (and the Rules made thereunder) to safeguard ecology and biodiversity and to protect the interests of fish workers.
“Before notifying the above blocks in offshore areas, the Central government had consulted several key Ministries, including the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, among others, as mandated under Rule 5 of the Offshore Areas Operating Right Rules (OAORR), 2024,” said Reddy in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on March 26, 2025.
The ministry has identified five zones along Kerala’s coast to excavate approximately 725 million tonnes of construction-grade sand. These are along the coasts of Alappuzha (Alleppey district), Ponnani (Malappuram district), and Chavakkad (Thrissur district), besides Kollam South and Kollam North in Kollam district. The three sand blocks put up for auction in the first tranche are in Kollam North. These blocks span 342 square kilometres and contain roughly 302 million tonnes of sand.
In their letter to the Union Ministry of Mines, the unions stated that Kollam district accounts for over 25 per cent of Kerala’s total fish production and that livelihoods of approximately 1,00,000 active marine fishers, along with their 5,00,000 family members, would be affected by the decision to undertake sand mining off the coast. They also said that nearly 10,00,000 individuals in ancillary sectors of the fishing industry would be affected.
“The proposed mining area is located near the globally renowned ‘Quilon Bank’, a critical fishing ground that supports a rich variety of marine fin and shell fish species, including threadfin breams, perches, lizard fishes, priacanthids, white fish, as well as deep-sea prawns, lobsters and oceanic squids, and cuttle fishes.… Threadfin breams with a catch rate of 9,500 kg per hour has been recorded from this ground, which is rather very unusual from offshore fishing grounds,” the letter stated.
The Vellayil fish landing centres in Kozhikode district were deserted on February 27, 2025, as fish workers observed a 24-hour “coastal strike” called by unions allied to the Congress and Left parties against offshore sand mining.
| Photo Credit:
K. Ragesh
Jackson Pollayil, an office-bearer of the National Fish-workers’ Forum, a national-level federation of trade unions and organisations of fish workers in the country, told this correspondent that the mining projects would not only impact families but also hit exports. “Before making the decision to auction the mineral blocks, the Central government should have ascertained if deep-sea mining would lead to climate change. These activities have the potential to damage the ecosystem and deplete the population of juvenile fish,” said Pollayil.
Study vindicates fish workers’ concerns
A study published by the University of Kerala earlier in 2025 vindicates the concerns of the fish workers’ communities and concludes that there is no need to rush into large-scale offshore sand mining in the absence of comprehensive environmental impact assessments. The study, “Report on the Possible Impacts of Offshore Sea Sand Mining off Kollam on Marine Biodiversity and Coastal Livelihoods”, which the university’s Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries prepared, states that the Kollam coast has been a major fishing ground for over four decades and a vital resource for the region’s fishing industry.
“This fertile fishing ground, located between Kollam and Alappuzha districts, supports a rich marine biodiversity, including deep-sea prawns, shrimps, lobsters, sardines, mackerel, and export-oriented squid varieties,” states the report. It further highlights that the Kollam coast is a biodiversity hotspot for coral reefs, which face the threat of extinction because of deep-sea mining.
It states that surveys “have recorded five species of hard corals and over 30 species of soft corals in the Kollam coastal region. Many of these are new records for the area, indicating that nearly two-thirds of Kerala’s recorded soft coral species are found off Kollam. These rocky reefs are considered biodiversity hotspots, playing a vital role in marine ecosystems by offering habitats, breeding grounds, and shelter for diverse marine organisms.”
The Mines Minister has, on the other hand, pointed out in Parliament that the offshore blocks have been carved out by excluding 130 marine protected areas and 106 coastal and marine sites, notified as Important Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Areas by the MoEFCC. He has also said that production operations on the mineral blocks cannot be undertaken without an approved plan, which would include an environmental management plan, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, and mitigation measures.
“Comprehensive provisions are available under the Act and the Rules to carry out EIA before commencing production to safeguard environment, biodiversity, and the interests of fishing community,” the Minister said in his reply to the Lok Sabha on March 26, adding: “Adequate safeguards are in place against any manipulation by the project proponents while carrying out EIA.”
Also Read | Vedanta’s oil exploration plan threatens Assam’s last gibbon sanctuary
Opposition MPs, including K.C. Venugopal of Kerala, and experts have asked for an “impartial study” rather than an environmental assessment conducted by the project proponents themselves.
“How many ecologically devastating projects have been suspended by the government on the basis of EIA assessments by project proponents or because of opposition during public hearings?” asked John Kurien, former professor at the Centre for Developing Studies based in Thiruvananthapuram.
A report published by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2019 highlighted weak governance in the management of global sand resources and insufficient research on sand mining. There are other studies that suggest that offshore sand mining is often poorly managed, leading to severe environmental, social, and economic consequences.
Communities will ultimately have to accept the consequences of these projects as a fait accompli. Besides, as Kurien asked: “Who will keep a watch on illegal mining activities in the deep seas when various State governments have not even been able to regulate illegal mining on riverbeds in the mainland?”
Ayaskant Das is an independent journalist and writer based in the National Capital Region.
New Delhi’s decision to auction, for the first time in the country, 13 offshore mineral blocks for deep-sea mining, vide the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023, has met with a rare show of political unity in Kerala. Following protest demonstrations by fish workers’ unions, the ruling party and the opposition in the State have come together to unanimously oppose the project.
The protest has also extended to Delhi, where Kerala MPs went on a protest march to Parliament seeking a complete halt to the projects. Within Parliament, demands were raised to conduct “impartial” environmental impact studies before allocating the blocks to private entities. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi demanded cancellation of the tenders floated for allocating 13 offshore mineral blocks. Rahul Gandhi stated in his letter that while there were grave concerns over the impact of offshore mining on the livelihood of millions of fisherfolk, the tenders were floated without any consultations with stakeholders or an assessment of the long-term socio-economic impact on coastal communities.
Talking to this correspondent, Charles George, president of the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi, an independent union of the State’s fish workers, said: “Fishermen communities, whose livelihoods will be impacted the most from offshore mining activities, were not consulted before tenders were floated for the auctioning of the mineral blocks. The Bill to amend the Act governing regulation of offshore mineral resources in the country was rushed through. It was not routed through a Joint Parliamentary Committee, which could have critically analysed its finer details. Besides, the Bill was passed without proper debate and discussion at a time when Parliament activities were nearly frozen by the opposition over the Central government’s apathy towards the continuing violence in Manipur.”
Efforts to unlock “blue economy”
The amended Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act of 2023 provides for 50-year fixed composite licences (meaning licences for exploration and production) to successful bidders for offshore mineral blocks, instead of periodic renewals as laid down in the Act of 2002. The new Act stipulates that the licensees should complete exploration activities satisfactorily within a period of three years from the date of grant of the composite licences. The earlier Act stipulated that operating rights of mineral blocks would be granted through a process of discretionary allocation.
Also Read | Sikkim divests stake in profitable Teesta III project to Greenko amid questions
The amendments, part of efforts to unlock the “blue economy”, have made way for the granting of licences by auction through a process of competitive bidding. (According to the World Bank, “blue economy” is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health.) But the amended Act also makes it clear that operating rights for exploration and production of offshore atomic minerals—the ores of uranium, thorium, and monazite, for example—will be granted only to government-owned companies.
In November 2024, the Central government launched the first tranche of auction bids for offshore mineral blocks. Bids were invited for grant of composite licences for three blocks of construction-grade sand off the coast of Kerala, three blocks of lime mud off the coast of Gujarat, and seven blocks of polymetallic nodules and crust off the Great Nicobar Island in the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar. Although protests have erupted in Kerala, where a Left Democratic Front government has been in power since 2016, no opposition to the tenders has been reported so far from Gujarat, which is under the rule of a BJP government, or from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which, being a Union Territory, is directly under the Central government’s rule.
Highlights
- New Delhi’s decision to auction 13 offshore mineral blocks for deep-sea mining has met with a rare show of political unity in Kerala.
- Fish workers are opposing the plan and the ruling Left Democratic Front and the opposition Congress are also opposed to it.
- There has been no opposition in BJP-ruled Gujarat or in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which being a UT is ruled directly by the Centre.
Parliament passsed the Bill to amend Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002—which opens India’s offshore minerals to private entities—in a tearing hurry. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 27, 2023, and passed on August 1, 2023, after just five days, which included a weekend when the House did not meet. The Rajya Sabha passed it on August 3, 2023, when opposition MPs staged a walkout over the violence in Manipur.
“All that the government has done so far in terms of public participation in the auctioning of the blocks is holding roadshows and webinars. This, however, has been met with opposing roadshows by fish-worker communities who are likely to be affected by the project,” said George.
“Coastal strike” against Centre’s roadshow
In May 2024, the Union Ministry of Mines organised a workshop in New Delhi to highlight the untapped reservoirs of minerals in offshore areas and their potential to catalyse economic growth. After floating tenders for the 13 blocks, the ministry organised a webinar in December 2024 in which officials shared “detailed insights into the geology and mineral potential of the identified offshore blocks”. The Centre also held a roadshow in Kerala in January 2025 to highlight its vision of turning India into a global leader in offshore mining.
In response to the roadshow, a 24-hour “coastal strike” was called on February 27 by fish workers’ unions allied to the Congress and Left parties in Kerala. On the day of the strike, fish-landing centres and fish markets across Kerala remained shut while fish workers in large numbers took to the streets in protest against the proposed auction.
The Great Nicobar coastline. In 2024, bids were invited for grant of composite licences for seven blocks of polymetallic nodules and crust off the Great Nicobar Island.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
In March 2025, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan opposing the Central government’s plans to allow deep-sea mining through private entities by amending the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002. The resolution expressed concerns about the potential of the projects to adversely impact marine ecology and biodiversity and affect the livelihoods of fish workers.
Notably, the local unit of the Congress in Ernakulam district has called out the Left government’s ambivalence on offshore mining by pointing out that the roadshow organised by the Union Ministry of Mines in Kochi on January 10, 2025, was partly funded by a state-run public sector unit of the Kerala government.
After the issuance of tenders for the 13 blocks, many fish workers’ unions from Kerala came together to write to the Union Ministry of Mines, urging it to re-examine the decision in the light of the catastrophic consequences that the proposed mining projects could have on ecology and fishing activities.
Centre rules out review of decision
However, notwithstanding the protests and the opposition, the Central government has categorically informed the Lok Sabha that any question of “reviewing the mining tender process does not arise”. Union Minister of Mines G. Kishan Reddy has said that there are adequate provisions in the Act (and the Rules made thereunder) to safeguard ecology and biodiversity and to protect the interests of fish workers.
“Before notifying the above blocks in offshore areas, the Central government had consulted several key Ministries, including the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, among others, as mandated under Rule 5 of the Offshore Areas Operating Right Rules (OAORR), 2024,” said Reddy in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on March 26, 2025.
The ministry has identified five zones along Kerala’s coast to excavate approximately 725 million tonnes of construction-grade sand. These are along the coasts of Alappuzha (Alleppey district), Ponnani (Malappuram district), and Chavakkad (Thrissur district), besides Kollam South and Kollam North in Kollam district. The three sand blocks put up for auction in the first tranche are in Kollam North. These blocks span 342 square kilometres and contain roughly 302 million tonnes of sand.
In their letter to the Union Ministry of Mines, the unions stated that Kollam district accounts for over 25 per cent of Kerala’s total fish production and that livelihoods of approximately 1,00,000 active marine fishers, along with their 5,00,000 family members, would be affected by the decision to undertake sand mining off the coast. They also said that nearly 10,00,000 individuals in ancillary sectors of the fishing industry would be affected.
“The proposed mining area is located near the globally renowned ‘Quilon Bank’, a critical fishing ground that supports a rich variety of marine fin and shell fish species, including threadfin breams, perches, lizard fishes, priacanthids, white fish, as well as deep-sea prawns, lobsters and oceanic squids, and cuttle fishes.… Threadfin breams with a catch rate of 9,500 kg per hour has been recorded from this ground, which is rather very unusual from offshore fishing grounds,” the letter stated.
The Vellayil fish landing centres in Kozhikode district were deserted on February 27, 2025, as fish workers observed a 24-hour “coastal strike” called by unions allied to the Congress and Left parties against offshore sand mining.
| Photo Credit:
K. Ragesh
Jackson Pollayil, an office-bearer of the National Fish-workers’ Forum, a national-level federation of trade unions and organisations of fish workers in the country, told this correspondent that the mining projects would not only impact families but also hit exports. “Before making the decision to auction the mineral blocks, the Central government should have ascertained if deep-sea mining would lead to climate change. These activities have the potential to damage the ecosystem and deplete the population of juvenile fish,” said Pollayil.
Study vindicates fish workers’ concerns
A study published by the University of Kerala earlier in 2025 vindicates the concerns of the fish workers’ communities and concludes that there is no need to rush into large-scale offshore sand mining in the absence of comprehensive environmental impact assessments. The study, “Report on the Possible Impacts of Offshore Sea Sand Mining off Kollam on Marine Biodiversity and Coastal Livelihoods”, which the university’s Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries prepared, states that the Kollam coast has been a major fishing ground for over four decades and a vital resource for the region’s fishing industry.
“This fertile fishing ground, located between Kollam and Alappuzha districts, supports a rich marine biodiversity, including deep-sea prawns, shrimps, lobsters, sardines, mackerel, and export-oriented squid varieties,” states the report. It further highlights that the Kollam coast is a biodiversity hotspot for coral reefs, which face the threat of extinction because of deep-sea mining.
It states that surveys “have recorded five species of hard corals and over 30 species of soft corals in the Kollam coastal region. Many of these are new records for the area, indicating that nearly two-thirds of Kerala’s recorded soft coral species are found off Kollam. These rocky reefs are considered biodiversity hotspots, playing a vital role in marine ecosystems by offering habitats, breeding grounds, and shelter for diverse marine organisms.”
The Mines Minister has, on the other hand, pointed out in Parliament that the offshore blocks have been carved out by excluding 130 marine protected areas and 106 coastal and marine sites, notified as Important Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Areas by the MoEFCC. He has also said that production operations on the mineral blocks cannot be undertaken without an approved plan, which would include an environmental management plan, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, and mitigation measures.
“Comprehensive provisions are available under the Act and the Rules to carry out EIA before commencing production to safeguard environment, biodiversity, and the interests of fishing community,” the Minister said in his reply to the Lok Sabha on March 26, adding: “Adequate safeguards are in place against any manipulation by the project proponents while carrying out EIA.”
Also Read | Vedanta’s oil exploration plan threatens Assam’s last gibbon sanctuary
Opposition MPs, including K.C. Venugopal of Kerala, and experts have asked for an “impartial study” rather than an environmental assessment conducted by the project proponents themselves.
“How many ecologically devastating projects have been suspended by the government on the basis of EIA assessments by project proponents or because of opposition during public hearings?” asked John Kurien, former professor at the Centre for Developing Studies based in Thiruvananthapuram.
A report published by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2019 highlighted weak governance in the management of global sand resources and insufficient research on sand mining. There are other studies that suggest that offshore sand mining is often poorly managed, leading to severe environmental, social, and economic consequences.
Communities will ultimately have to accept the consequences of these projects as a fait accompli. Besides, as Kurien asked: “Who will keep a watch on illegal mining activities in the deep seas when various State governments have not even been able to regulate illegal mining on riverbeds in the mainland?”
Ayaskant Das is an independent journalist and writer based in the National Capital Region.
