Fishermen assured of a better catch

by P.Krishnaswamy

Fishermen's Societies and Unions representing the fishermen of the Northern province expressed delight over the abolition of the compulsory 'Navy Pass System' that was in operation for over 20 years.

They also welcomed the marked decline in the presence of Indian trawlers, consequent to the stiff security and patrolling measures enforced by the Navy. Another positive development reported last week towards the improvement of the fisheries sector of the Northern province was the spontaneous discontinuation of 'prohibited fishing methods' by local fishermen, including trawler fishing, under motivation by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development.

The issuance of the Fisheries Ministry Identity Cards to fishermen of the Northern, Eastern and North-Western provinces started last week, replacing the 'Navy Pass System', and this process will be completed soon, Ministry sources said.

Some representatives of the fishermen's organisations contacted by the Sunday Observer also said that the accusations repeatedly made by some of their Tamil Nadu counterparts saying that they were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy in the Indian territorial waters are spurious and baseless.

To the best of their knowledge the Sri Lankan Navy never attacks any intruding Indian fishermen but only seizes their vessels and apprehends the fishermen, they said.

The political leaders across the Palk Strait should verify the authenticity of such statements before raising them as major political issues, they said.

President of the Union of Northern Fishermen's Cooperative Societies S.Thavaratnam, which has over one hundred fishermen's societies of the Jaffna district in its membership told the Sunday Observer that the abolition of the 'Navy Pass System' is a landmark event in the life of the Northern fishermen who had borne the brunt of the three-decade-long conflict, lost their livelihood and came under various harassments and restrictions from time to time.

The Navy Pass System, that was intended at monitoring LTTE activities, had caused untold hardships to the fishermen. The huge presence of Indian poaching trawlers and their prohibited methods of fishing also deprived them of their livelihood.

The abolition of the 'Navy pass system' last week incidentally coincided with the spontaneous withdrawal of bottom trawler fishing by the local fisherman on the motivation of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development making it a heyday in the life of the fishermen, he said.

To make things even better, the presence of the Indian poaching trawlers has considerably declined, he said. Thavaratnam said that all credit goes to Minister Dr.Rajitha Senaratne, the Ministry and the Government and the fishermen are very grateful. Bottom trawler fishing caused extensive damage to the coral reefs, which are breeding grounds to the aquatic life, and also substantially depleted fish stocks, posing a threat to the future livelihood of the fishermen.

Realising this grave situation, the local fishermen who were engaged in bottom trawler fishing have now voluntarily agreed to stop it, Thavaratnam said.

The Indian fishermen who come in their hundreds in huge trawlers to engage in bottom trawler fishing and other prohibited methods of fishing should follow suit, Thavaratnam said. Being fishermen, depending on the sustainability of aquatic resources, fishermen should desist from all acts that will annihilate the source of their livelihood, he said. He also welcomed proposals on deep sea fishing put forward by the Indian government. He said that this will be very advantageous to fishermen of both India and Sri Lanka and, therefore, the two

Governments should jointly take measures to provide the necessary fishing gear, training and other assistance for promoting deep sea fishing. Repeated accusations that Indian fishermen were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy in Indian territorial waters is false and baseless, Thavaratnam said. Not a single incident where Indian fishermen were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy either in the Sri Lankan territorial waters or in Indian territorial waters have come to their knowledge so far although they have fishermen belonging to over 100 fishermen's societies going fishing round the clock, he said.

On this matter, the Sunday Observer also contacted representatives of other fishermen's societies and unions, specially in the Mannar and Jaffna districts. They included Mariadas Logu, President of the St.Mary's Fishermen's Society in Arippu in Mannar, Gregory Shankar, President of the Panamkattikottu Fishermen's Cooperative Society in Mannar, Kandasamy Rajendran, President of the Ambal Fishermen's Cooperative Society in Karainagar, Jaffna, J.Sagayaraja, President of the Gurunagar Fishermen's Development Cooperative Society in Jaffna, K.Kulasingham, President of Alaimagal Fishermen's Cooperative Society in Salipuram, Jaffna and Abdhul Majeed Uvais, President of the Erukkalampiddy Fishermen's Society in Mannar. All of them expressed similar views as Thavaratnam. They said that they are jubilant after the 'pass system' was done away with. When the system was in force they had the feeling that they were under surveillance and observation but now they breathe the air of freedom.