FRUSTRATED NORTHERN FISHERFOLK LOST AT SEA

Despite the civil war ending in 2009 the issues related to the northern fisherfolk underscore that the Tamil community remains harassed and marginalised.

- Ravi Nagahawatte

Recently we read in newspapers that northern fisherfolk have expressed their concerns over ‘privately run aquatic seafood farms coming up close to the northern islands to farm sea cucumbers and prawns’. However the problems associated with the northern fisherfolk go deeper than sea cucumber and prawn farming. Their biggest issue is migratory fishermen poaching in their waters. These poachers are involved in mega scale fishing and the trawlers they use damage sea resources and deny the livelihood of those engaged in traditional fishing and using fishing gear that’s permitted by the law.

The government authorities want to show that life in the north is returning to normalcy after the civil war and that the north will be provided with equal opportunities just like in the south. But the fishing issue also exposed the fact that the north resembles a piece of cake from which the ambitious ones want to cut a chunk off.

N.B. Subramanium, the Secretary of the Northern Province Fishermen’s Collective, told a leading Sinhala weekend newspaper (in 2018) that regardless whether the fishermen who come to the north are from Southern Sri Lanka or South India they will be classified as ‘migrant fishermen’. The word ‘migrant’ gives a negative feeling. It denotes the phrase ‘not proper’ or ‘without authorisation’. Immigrant is a much nicer word; meaning authorised or possessing documents. Another local fishing authority official Rathnasingham Muralitharan of the Jaffna Fisheries Association was once quoted in the Ravaya newspaper saying that the presence of migrant fishermen in the northern seas has caused enough problems to the Jaffna fishermen.