The Hindu : We are in despair: Sri Lankan fishermen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 10, 2003

International

International

We are in despair: Sri Lankan fishermen

By V.S. Sambandan

PESALAI (Sri Lanka) MARCH 9. The main fishing village in the Mannar island, Pesalai, is today in a mood of suppressed anger. "Continued poaching by Indian trawlers'', the fishermen here say, have "not only hit our livelihood, but also destroyed the continental shelf, which we have protected for centuries''.

"It is a situation of despair'' an official conceded. "It is turning out to be a battle between fishermen depending on the seas for their livelihood''. Senior residents here recall that this fishing village was more developed than those in Tamil Nadu two decades ago. Now Pesalai is a far cry from what it was before the start of the conflict. The visible physical damage caused by the militarisation of the conflict - severed transportation links, run-down storage facilities and an overall lack of development - is bound to take years to restore. Added to this, the encroachments by Indian fishermen have drastically hit their productivity on a daily basis, the fishermen complain.

A week after the Pesalai fishermen attacked the Indian fishermen who had entered their waters as caaptivesthey are now planning a district-wide protest. This, according to the president of a fishermen co-operative society, J.A. Santhiogu Croos, is a show of strength. "Once the Tamil Nadu fishermen said they were protesting, those held under custody here were released. We can show our strength as well. The Government should realise that''.

Backed by LTTE?

Sections of Tamil political opinion assert the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) backed last week's attacks indirectly. Fishermen here, however, distance themselves from such views. "Often the LTTE keeps a low profile on these issues'' a social worker said. Political analysts feel that the Tigers, who had raised the issue in the past, could well wait for it to intensify before taking it up again.

Asked to comment on the view that the fishermen should not have taken the law into their hands, Mr. Croos, who said he was away in Colombo when the incident took place, reasoned thus: "If someone comes to our house and takes our property, what do we do. We depend on the sea, those in this island depend on fishing''. The fishermen have a long list of difficulties. The common point that finds repeated mention is that promises have not been kept. Many of them, who had taken refuge in India during the early days of the conflict, see the unchecked encroachment by Indian fishermen as brazen flexing of muscle. ``They have a feeling that India is now eligible to be a superpower, and they can get away with what they do to us'' said a fisherman.

The concern that the Sri Lankan authorities will not stand up to India for the sake of the Mannar fishermen is also gaining ground. "We are being discriminated against. Our government will not antagonise the Indian Government for our sake'', Mr. Croos said. The guarantees given by the Indian officials, whenever release of encroaching fishermen is sought, that there will be no such recurrence are also not been maintained, he said.

Another fear gaining ground is that the already existing drug-route through the region, already affected by the disruption of ferry service between India and Sri Lanka, could intensify if there is a direct loss of livelihood for its fishermen.

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