Colombo, July 06: Fishermen in the northern Jaffna Peninsula have complained that their livelihood is being threatened by the alleged frequent intrusion of Indian fishing trawlers into Sri Lanka's territorial waters. In a memorandum to the government, a federation of fishermen's cooperative societies in Vadamaraachchi region of Jaffna has demanded measures to stop the illegal entry of Indian trawlers to protect their fishing implements from damage and local marine resources from destruction. The memorandum, addressed to President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, said, “The Jaffna fishermen had procured fishing implements with great difficulty, but these were easily destroyed or damaged by the intruding trawlers.” Several species of fish and marine plants faced extinction due to the use of trawlers in these areas, posing a grave threat to the livelihood of these fishermen, they said
Fishermen in the peninsula have been allowed to engage in deep-sea fishing only recently in terms of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE.
As severe restrictions on fishing activity, in terms of both duration and distance were in force for nearly a dozen years, Tamil fishermen did not venture deep into the sea for a long time, leaving the sea free for alleged `poaching' by Indian vessels.

With the removal of these restrictions, local fishermen are now beginning to assert their rights and demanding action to end intrusion by Indian trawlers and fishing boats into their territorial waters in the north, especially around the islands off the peninsula.

Bureau Report