Fishing in troubled Palk Bay was totally a nightmare for Sri Lankan fishermen who are living in the northern province of Sri Lanka. Fisher communities in Mannar, Kilinochchi, Jaffna are facing very serious damages to their life and livelihoods due to poaching of Indian trawlers in to Sri Lankan waters. Some times the number of boats invade in to SL waters exceed 1000 boats per night. The highly mechanized, powerful engines with pair trawl brings not only damage to eco system due to destruction of the coral reefs, sea weeds, prawns, fish and all the organisms come along the nets. While Sri Lankan fisheries authorities take strong action to stop the harmful fishing practices, the Indian Trawler issue is still remains as a threat to their livelihood. Indian trawlers enjoyed fishing in Sri Lankan waters even during the war period while Sri Lankan fishermen did not have the permission or had the least space for operations with number of restrictions. After the war ended, people in the north expect to build up their lives through fishing. But, they are really helpless with the situation, as they can’t feed their families due to unnecessary threat due to lack of proper protection.
They had several attempts to overcome this issue through dialogues. In August 2010, a delegation representing fisher leaders of the cooperatives visited Indian state of Tamil Nadu to discuss the issues and to find a solution. Some of the Indian leaders came to Sri Lanka to meet some of the officials and fishermen on the same issue. However, there is no any satisfactory solution they received for the issues.
“We did not want to raise this issue during the war though we did not agree to the Indian trawlers to destroy our waters. Indian trawlers have destroyed their waters and they have become deserts. There is no fish left for those fishers to catch and that is the reason why they come to Sri Lankan waters. They will do the same thing in our waters within our EEZ, even at the territorial waters within 4-5 Km zone.” Says Arul Das, Chairperson of Munai Fisheries Cooperative Society.
The People who are living in the northern province are totally weary with war. They want to have a peaceful life at least now. They want to educate their children. They need to feel the freedom that southern politicians are claiming on them.
“We are looking forward to revive our livelihoods with out any disturbances. If the government says, we are free to fishing and to build up our economy, they should take speedy and effective actions to protect this resource over exploitation and resource depletion. All over the world, there is a serious dialogue on sustainable fisheries. Why such dialogues not applicable to us? Is that because we are minority group of Tamil fishers in Sri Lanka? Why Sri Lankan Navy keep blind eye on Indian trawlers? ”
Rajachandran, a fishermen leader in Jaffna added to the discussion.
There are 5300 Indian Trawlers in Tamil Nadu and more than 2000 trawlers operate by 15,000 employees in Palk Bay within 210 Km coast line. There are 10 major landing sites with 30 trawl owner associations in this region. Trawl owners at Rameshwaram, Mallipattinam, Jegadapattinam and Nagapattinam are politically powerful and have much influence to Indian politics, not only at TN government, but also up to the level of center at Delhi government. So, this is very sensitive issue at Tamil Nadu politics. However, Indian fishermen associations are claimed that the SL navy shoot their people.
Sri Lankan Navy has also records of the poaching of Indian trawlers in some years up to the extent of 120,000 in number. But, with the surprise , there is no serious action to prevent the poaching of the Indian Trawlers in to our territorial waters.
“When we ask Sri Lanka Navy about their inertness to take action against Indian trawlers, they say they did not have received any clear instructions to take actions against the Indian trawlers those poaching in our waters. And they are awaiting till they get clear orders from Colombo. ” Says Rajachandran Nagaratnem , a fisherman at Chulipuram, at Mathagal.
However, it is reported that the Sri Lankan government also have some agreements with Indian government on the Indian and Sri Lankan cross boarder issue. But those agreements between Sri Lankan authorities are also not on force at the moment. The issues were so important as the two governments have signed MOU of join working group in October 2008 and also joint declaration of President Mahinda Rajapakse and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in June 2010. So, the negotiations have no fruitful solution for the Sri Lankan side as the marginalized northern province fishermen are still continuing their threats to their lives and the livelihoods.
“When we cross the boarder even by accidents, Indian coast guards immediately arrest us and keep in the jail for months. But, Indian trawlers are coming to close to the shore and no any action take against them. We can not understand why the powerful SL Navy can not take any action. We are the victims with serious damages to our nets, vallam, small boats. Some times, our boats were destroyed and we lost our people’s lives. When we see the Indian Trawlers come to our waters, we come back and prevent to go to the sea for fishing.”
Says, Emeliyanus Pillai Anthony Pillai, a fisher leader at Vadamarachchi area.
Fisher people in the northern Sri Lanka are awaiting to revive their livelihoods with out disturbances and looking forward for an effective actions to prevent Indian trawlers destructions in Palk Bay as well as at the side of Bay of Bengal. Unless, there will be total resource depletion, destruction of lives of the people, loss of fishing gears and livelihood, disturb the future of our marginalized fisher communities in the north. People are too disturbed with the issue and both Sri Lankan government and Indian government should find amicable solution for the issues.
0 comments:
Post a Comment