Seafarers’ predicament:

Striking a balance between safety and comfort

By Ranil Wijayapala

The November 25th calamity due to gale forced winds striking the southern coast creating havoc among the people, raised many issues regarding safety of fishermen. It brought disaster to many fishermen in Galle and Matara as the gusty winds took away the lives of 22 fishermen while another 11 remains missing.

Their sorrow over the deaths of their loved ones is still haunting the fishing community as many of the fishermen who lost their lives in the calamity are sometimes the sole breadwinner of their families.

Their family members still live with the hope that their husbands, fathers and brothers may reappear from somewhere in the sea and come back to their homes.

It was the Meteorological Department which got the blame for not issuing timely warning for the fishermen about the windy situation that created havoc in the South on that fateful day. Many of the fishermen accused the Meteorological Department and also blamed them for not taking enough measures to save the lives of the fishermen who were struggling with the rough sea after their boats capsized.

True, the Meteorological Department did not issue warning to the fishermen and the Department accepts the fact that they could not predict the situation beforehand due to some factors.

Warning

Kumari Withana

Asoka Jayaweera

Lal de Silva

After almost two weeks of the incident the Meteorological Department on December 7, issued a bad weather warning to the fishermen in the North, South and West but the anticipated wind speed did not occur. The blame once again went to the Meteorological Department for hampering their livelihood by issuing a bad weather warning that had not materialised in the surface.

The weather has become a major factor affecting the day-to-day lives of fishermen and they are prepared to take that risk to continue their livelihood irrespective of the threats from the weather.

But whether they can rely on the weather forecast on the safety of their lives is a moot point in the aftermath of this unfortunate incident.

So there must be measures that can guarantee the safety of the fishermen in their struggle with the sea in such a calamity. Therefore, the Sunday Observer thought of inquiring from the relevant authorities about the safety measures that can guarantee the safety of the fishermen while engaged in fishing .

Forecast

According to Assistant Director of the Fisheries Department Lal de Silva and the Chief Radio Officer Asoka Jayaweera they only can issue warning to the fishermen based on the routine weather forecast from the Meteorological Department.

“Other than that we cannot issue bad weather warning to the fishermen through our radio station based on the reports we receive from other organisations. What we can do is to clarify those reports from the Meteorological Department and that also didn’t happen on the November 25”, Jayaweera added.

According to Lal de Silva the number of deaths and the damages to the boats could have been minimised if the bad weather warning is issued to the fishermen by the Meteorological Department.

But even after the incident there were no measures to search for the missing fishermen until they were washed ashore or found dead in the sea.

According to Asoka Jayaweera, the number of deaths would have been minimised if the fishermen adhered to the rules and regulations issued to them by the Fisheries Department.

“I am not saying that they all could have been saved by the rescuers from the Navy but many of them could have been saved if they were wearing life jackets made mandatory by the Fisheries Department. But we could not find a single fisherman wearing a life jacket”, he said.

“The first thing is that fishermen were not given a warning in this regard and they were not aware of such impending disaster as the Met Department had not issued any warning. On the other hand the fishermen concerned also had not taken adequate measures in terms of self safety. We have been addressing the issue for so many years”, he added.

According to Jayaweera even under normal conditions they are required to wear life jackets, life wings and carry a first aid box. In addition they have to carry a fire extinguisher. These things have been made mandatory for the fishermen.

“On the part of the fishermen they are reluctant to comply with these regulations although we carried out so many awareness program through the media, through our assistant directors and through seminars and demonstrations conducted in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation”, he added.

“They are reluctant to wear life jackets and they say that it hampers their fishing activities.

But we have introduced these measures for their safety and they must get used these measures for their safety, without blaming the authorities when they faced incidents of this nature”, he added.

However, the Fisheries Department has no resources to check each and every fishing boat for the use of life jackets as many small boats sail from different areas.

“With regard to fishing trawlers there is no problem as they are leaving from Fisher harbours. But we or the Navy cannot check safety equipment on each and every trawler going fishing. It is the duty of the skipper or the boat owner to see that they are having this gear prior to leaving the harbour.

Trawlers

According to Assistant Director Lal de Silva 20 Coastal Radio Centres can communicate with the fishing trawlers when they are in distress and send rescue teams if they face any incidents. But many of the boats that got damaged on November 25 were small.

“The Fisheries Department does not have resources to send rescue teams when fishermen are in distress. Prior to the Tsunami the Fisheries Department had several big boats but all of them were destroyed in the Tsunami. Therefore we have to seek assistance from the Coast Guard or the Sri Lanka Navy in this regard”, he added.

“In the Sri Lankan waters the Navy is in a position to help fishermen and when the fishing boats are in the territorial waters of other countries we have to seek assistance from the relevant countries”, he added.

According to Legal Officer Kumari Withana, although fishermen are not adhering to the safety regulations there are so many regulations under the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act to guarantee their safety in the sea.

Local Fishing Boats (Life Jackets) regulation under the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act was gazetted on October 9, 2008 to make it mandatory for the owner or proprietor of every fishing boat to ensure that every boat engaged in fishing activities wear Life Jackets which conform to accepted standards.

Under this regulation the owner or proprietor of any fishing boat shall inform and instruct every member of its crew, of the circumstances in which they are expected to use a life Jacket, the place at which the life jackets are stored and the manner the jackets are to be used.

In addition, the regulation also emphasises that it shall be the duty of every owner or proprietor of a fishing boat to cause the life jackets carried on-board these fishing boats to be regularly inspected and where necessary, replaced.Any owner or proprietor who contravenes the provisions of these regulations shall be guilty of an offence.“We are strictly implementing this regulation with regard to the multi-day fishing trawlers and one-day fishing boats. But now this has been made mandatory for the small fishing boats too”, Withana added.

“Even when the Fisheries Officers are travelling in boats for any inspection it has been made mandatory for them to wear life jackets,” she added.

According to the Legal Officer there are practical difficulties in implementing this regulation as small fishing boats leaving the coast cannot be checked for adhering to these regulations, although they can inspect fishing trawlers leaving fishing harbours.

“We have not put forward this as a condition when issuing licences for the fishing boats but we have conducted a series of awareness programs to educate them about the life jacket regulations. So we have not taken any legal action against the fishermen and those who are violating this regulation under the Fisheries Act. In the future we are taking strict possible action against them”, she added.

Under Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, all boats engaged in fishing activities have to be registered with the Fisheries Department.

“To get their boats registered they have to show the sea-worthiness certificate to the Fisheries Department. The other requirement is the insurance certificate. These two requirements are necessary to get their boats registered in the Fisheries Department,” she added.

Situations

However she pointed out that there are situations where the fishermen pay the first instalment of the insurance and get their license renewed from the Fisheries Department. “But only when they are caught in an accident they remember the balance payment of the insurance”, she added.

“This cannot be checked even by the Navy as the Navy is looking only for the registration certificate. We have discussed this matter with Insurance companies too, but due to various economic constraints on the part of the fishermen things are not happening as we expected”, she added.

“We are imposing all these rules and regulations to ensure their safety. We have made it mandatory to wear life jackets because we are concerned about their safety. We have also made the insurance certificate mandatory as they can receive compensation if they face any unfortunate incidents in the sea”.

“Apart from these measures, we are also inspecting the seaworthiness of the boats as their lives are in danger if they use boats which are not suitable to go for fishing. If they face windy situation they have to be prepared to face those situations”, she added.

The Fishing Boats Safety (Design, Construction and Equipment) Regulations 2009 gazetted under the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, No. 2 of 1996 has listed safety specifications of the fishing boats to ensure that all the boats manufactured follow the safety specifications. The gazette notification in this regard has been issued on May 5, 2009.

These regulations widely deals with the specification of a fishing boat to make sure that all the boats added to the industry are seaworthy.“It is through these measures that the Fisheries Department is taking measures to ensure the safety of the fishermen. Other than that the Fisheries Department has not been allocated funds to compensate for the victims. That is why we are introducing these rules and regulations, to reduce the risky situation they have to face.

“We have to think of these regulations in a humane manner, and as people engaged in this industry are from poor community. Though we have formulated all these laws we are going to implement these laws step by step.

We can’t forcibly enforce these laws. We have to take action smoothly”, she added.

On the other hand, even after facing such an unfortunate situation the Fishermen and their dependants are not in a position to receive any compensation as many of them have not become members of the insurance scheme.

Secretary to the National Fisheries Organisation, Pemasiri Perera, said that non of the victims of the November 25 incident have been insured under the “Dheewara Diriya” insurance scheme initiated under the Fisheries Ministry.

Bothered

“Under “Dheewara Diriya” insurance scheme fishermen have to pay only Rs.750 per year but they have not even bothered about it until they become victims. So far only 10,000 fishermen have become members of this insurance scheme,” Pemasiri added.

“As a fisheries organisation we are conducting a series of seminars to educate them on these matters through our branches. But it is very difficult to get the participation of the fishermen towards such programs as they are thinking of them only when they confront with such issues only”, he added.

However he said that the Fisheries Ministry is doing its best to educate them on such matters to make their lives safer in the sea through various mechanisms. “The incident on November 25 was an eye opener for them”, he added.