From the bottom of the sea to the ballot box
Velupillai Thavachelvam, leader of Jaffna Fishermen Cooperative Society who took part in the fishermen level talks between two countries held in New Delhi, November, has accused the government of failing to implement bottom trawling laws.
"I suspect that both the Sri Lankan and Indian governments have come to an common understanding and agreed on principle to take a soft approach on this poaching issue which affects our fishermen livelihood badly on adaily basis," Mr Thavachelvam told the Sunday Times in an interview in Jaffna.
Excerpts of the interview :
Q: During the talks what were the proposals from the Indian side?
During the talks with Indian fishermen leaders, they have requested us to allow them fishing for three months in a year for three consecutive years until they switch to alternative fishing methods. We firmly told them we can't allow bottom trawling ( a banned fishing practice) in our waters not even for three minutes.
They assured us repeatedly that they will give up bottom trawling in coming years and we should consider them to allow fishing in our sea using marine Eco friendly fishing methods. We told them, we can discuss that in the next talks if they switched into that mode with the approval of the two governments.
Q: Have you been able to reach a settlement?
We had several talks at fishermen level and senior officials level between the two governments in the past but there was no tangible solution found for this issue.
Q: What is the situation about poaching?
Indian fishermen are still coming into Sri Lanka territorial waters in locations close Kayts, Mullaithivu and Vadamarachchi in large numbers for poaching.
Sometimes Rs 5 million worth of our fishing nets and other resources damaged due to the trawling nets by Indian fishermen. There were no compensation either from government or Indian fishermen. We wonder how can they trespass into our waters without being caught by the Navy?"
Q: What do you feel about both, the former government and the current government failing to resolve the issue?
If former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's government is to be considered as Mothakam- in Tamil( a local sweet made of Palmyra sugar, President Maithirpala's government is Kolukkattai (Tamil)-same sweet with a different shape.
Q: Your comments about locals engaging in bottom trawling?
Another worrisome issue for our livelihood is increasing number of local trawlers that pose a threat to our traditional small scale fisher- folk. Currently, there are 700 trawlers from Valvettithurai and Kurunagar operating in Jaffna district,"
During the LTTE’s presence the LTTE gave millions to fishermen unions urging them to switch to marine environment friendly fishing methods. Thereafter, government issued many resources for alternative fishing including boats and nets in 2010. They did not switch but instead multiplied in numbers.
Last week, we handed over a pile of letters from 120 fishermen unions to Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to implement that law without any further delay. We are told that the delay is due to the upcoming local government polls as politicians island wide don't want to earn the wrath of those powerful trawler owners.
Q: Do political parties raise this issue during the election campaign
The Tamil National Alliance ( TNA) and Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) are keeping mum on this issue in order to secure votes from these fisherfolk wards in the upcoming local government elections.
Their main concern is securing Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) with votes coming from Gurunagar where highest number of bottom trawling boats currently operate.