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| Sunday, 20 February 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Lament of the fisher folk : Ready, set.... where's the equipment? by Shanika Sriyananda
Vipula Dharme and several other fishermen stare at the sea, day in and day out, sitting by a damaged boat washed ashore by the tsunami waves. He does not know when he would go back to the sea to catch some fish. He has no boats, no fishing equipment and sees no help in the horizon. Being a fisherman for the past 30 years, he does not know any other way of earning money. And he is not alone. Many fishermen like Vipula in the Oruwadiya village in Rakawa are ready to go back to sea, though it took everything, the lives of their kith and kin, houses and their boats. Today they only own the foundation and the wooden planks of their houses. Living in tents with their toddlers, these fisher folk found shelter in the Rakawa school and the community hall, after the tsunami and have now been moved to tents. The unbearable heat seems nothing to these men who are thinking of ways and means of starting their careers anew. Wearing long sleeved shirts given by donors, they, the young and old, spend half of their day staring at the sea. The boats that survived the tsunami are said to be able to bring in only small fish like sprats, as the big nets have been damaged or washed away by the tsunami waves. The five hundred fisher families living in the Oruwadiya village owned over 103 big boats but the number has been reduced to eight after the tsunami. "We do not have boats or fishing nets to catch big fish like hurullas and balayas. All our fishing equipment have been washed away", says R.P. Sarath, who was engaged in selling lobsters. Double blow The tsunami has dealt a double blow to these fishermen, for apart from losing their livelihood as well as their property, houses and fishing equipments, they also lost the confidence people had in consuming fish. Now not only do they need fishing equipment, they also have to convince consumers that it is OK to start eating fish. "As people are still reluctant to eat fish, the price has dropped considerably. We sell the sprats at the village pola. Most villagers still do not eat fish after the tsunami as they have seen bodies laid along the beach", they claim. According to Sarath all the big nets in the houses and the small nets in their fishing huts (waadi) have been washed away and the remaining equipment is not enough to help them get on their feet. It is nearly two months since the tsunami occurred, but the wrecked sites remain with piles of uncleared rubble. The lives of the fisher folks too is full of desperation and uncertainty. "Government officials do little for us", they claim, adding that they are sick of filling forms given by the officers. Now depending on the government rations - 2 kilos of rice, one kilo of dhal and sugar each, the only alternative they have is to go back to sea. "We do not want to depend on the government. We want to earn a living", is the constant cry of these displaced persons. "If the NGOs did not help us we would die of starvation", says N.S. Thilakaratne. "We do not want any government relief. What we want is help to repair our boat engines. We want some new boats", are the common sentiments echoed by every fishermen not only in Oruwadiya but in all the areas of the coastline. According to these fisher folk, some boats have been repaired by Ceynor Foundation and several government officials have visited the area in air conditioned vehicles 'noted' down details of the damaged boats and the plight of these helpless fisher folk. "They visited us is true but nothing has been done to solve our problem. Even after nearly two months of the tsunami we are still filling forms and narrating horror filled incidences to the officials", they claim. They also claim that politicians who 'grabbed' their votes giving 'rosy' promises had come to 'see' them, but nothing has really been done to restore their lives to normalcy. " Politicians wearing blue, red, green and yellow came to see us. They listened to our grievances and gave us promises. But that was it", they claim. Vipula complains of further deterioration to their damaged engines as a result of keeping them unattended. " We do not have money to repair these boats. If the authority can repair these engines we can use these to go back to sea or else corrosion will soon set in due to the sea breeze", he says. The fishing villages in Modarawatta and Balapitiya have also been completely washed away. Seated in his tiny house, damaged and about to collapse, W. Nimalsiri says that the tsunami had destroyed the livelihood of the entire village, which had nearly 80 fishing crafts. "Today it has been reduced to five. We are absolutely helpless and depend solely on others. We have no way of earning a living nor can we think of a life", Nimalsiri, a father of five school going children complains. "Nearly two months have passed. We want to go back to the sea", he says. Some earned thousands a day before the tsunami. But today they depend on meagre daily earnings of Rs. 100 thanks to those who own undamaged boats. They share the daily catch with those who lost their boats and sell the stock at the village pola. "But selling is no easy task. If the government donates some boats it will be of much help", Nimalsiri says. The procedure Fisheries and Ocean Resources Ministry Secretary, N. Bambarawanage when contacted by the Sunday Observer claimed that the Ministry could not perform miracles to revamp the fisheries industry, which suffered heavy damage as a result of the tsunami, as the Ministry solely depends on allocations from the Treasury and the assistance of world donor agencies. According to Bambarawanage, the governments of Greece, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Korea and Italy have pledged their assistance to give new traditional crafts, while Korea and UK have agreed to send their used multi-day vessels to Sri Lanka. The country lost 194 traditional vessels while over 399 multi-day vessels, which need over 5,000 litres of diesel and high refrigerator facilities to spend one month in the sea, were partly destroyed by the tsunami waves. A total of 15,754 fishing vessels were completely damaged. The Chinese government had recently signed an MoU with the Treasury to re-build damaged fishing harbours, while the Italian government signed an MOU with the Fisheries Minister to supply boats and other fishing gear to the tsunami hit areas. "All activities of repairing and supplying boats and other equipment is now co-ordinated by the Ceynor Foundation Ltd (CFL) and all donations of new boats and fishing gear have to go through the CFL. The donors have to get registered with the CFL prior to the donation. Then the CFL will distribute the donation according to its assessment on the number of boats, the type of boats and fishing gear that each area need", he said. According to Bambarawanage, the Ministry has taken this decision as fish resources along the coastal belt is said to be depleting, due to over harvesting. The problem is further compounded by industrial pollutants, coral mining, adhoc construction of hotels and encroachment on the coastal belt. "Donating too many fishing crafts will aggravate the fish scarcity in the coastal belt", he said adding that the Ministry would replace all types of lost and damaged boats. Bambarawanage said that the Ministry needs further allocation from the FAO and the donor countries to supply fishing gear. "We know the plight of fisher folk but we need time to give new boats, repair the damaged boats and supply equipment. This will take a couple of months to bring the industry back to normal", he said. |
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