Memo on poaching submitted to Indian HC

by P. Krishnaswamy

In a new turn of events, Northern fishermen who remained isolated from the other parts of the island due to terrorism joined hands with their Southern counterparts after three decades, to submit a joint memorandum to the Indian High Commission in Colombo on the problems of poaching.

According to Chairman of the Federation of Jaffna District Fishermen’s Societies S. Thavaratnam, Indian diplomat Sunil Achaya, who met the fishermen’s delegation, had been of the view that the fishermen’s cross-border problem is a matter primarily for discussion and mutual consensus between the fishing communities of the two countries, for subsequent government-to-government discussion for working out a lasting solution.

The Indian diplomat agreed to forward the fishermen’s representation to his Government for appropriate follow-up action, Thavaratnam said.

They also submitted a memorandum to Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development and Jaffna District MP Douglas Devananda who promised that the livelihood problem of the fishermen needs to be sorted out soon and that he would take it up with the Government, Thavaratnam said.

The fishermen’s delegation is also to meet Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Rajitha Senaratne soon, he said.

A 25-member delegation representing fishermen’s unions of the Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mannar districts, led by Thavaratnam, met a 10-member delegation of Southern fishermen’s unions, including the All Ceylon Fisherfolk Trade Union, United Fishers’ and Fishworkers’ Congress and the Puttalam District Fishermen’s Solidarity Union together with Convenor of the National Fishermen’s Solidarity, Herman Kumara.

They discussed the long-unsettled problem of poaching which continued to destroy their fertile fishing and breeding grounds in their traditional fishing areas and, consequently, decided to submit their memorandum to the Government of India, through the Indian High Commission in Colombo, Thavaratnam said.

At the discussions they also concluded that the problem of poaching was assuming national dimensions as poachers were lately seen encroaching onto Sri Lankan traditional fishing areas in the Puttalam coastal sea and Kudiramalai in Kalpitiya, Thavaratnam said.

Thavaratnam’s delegation met their Indian counterparts in Tamil Nadu last August and held discussions on arriving at a mutual consensus to the problem.