We met Mr. K. Parameshwaran, a resident of Thirakadavoor, Trincomalee who is a fisherman by tradition, in the midst of the Trincomalee town, while he was on his way to a nadar’s shop with a load of old iron, which seemed unsustainable for his bicycle. He stated that he had to buy books and school materials for his children for the new school term and that in order to find some money for this, he had collected pieces of old iron lying around his yard and that he was going thus, to sell it. His statement, exposed a side view of the lamentable situation the fishermen of Trincomalee have to face at present.

“We are not people who have lived like this… fisher folk are those who eat and drink and dress properly and live enjoying life… however, now, quite apart from enjoying life, we are not wealthy enough, even to buy the kids the books they need. With the war, the sea access was restricted for us. We waited patiently for two years hoping that the war will end…. in those days, we ate and drank and clothed ourselves by pawning the gold jewelry belonging to our women folk and the children. Now, thank god, there is no war in the Eastern province…. but the restrictions and bans on our profession remain the same.

We cannot go to sea at the times the Navy want us to and do our job. We need to go to sea at the time there are fish around. We request the government and the Minister of Fisheries to actually come to Trincomalee to inquire about our problems, unlike during the times of elections when their coming is a mockery.” Mr. Parameshwaran stated to us.

The majority who live in the Trincomalee district are fisher folk and until recently they were the beneficiaries of an easy going life, thanks to the bountiful resource of fish along the Trincomalee coastline. Their children and their children’s children take up the fishing job which is inherited from their fathers, proving that fisher folk are not a burden to the government. However, with the war situation in the past, the restrictions that were put in place against the fishing profession have not been lifted as yet and fishermen of the area are in a dire situation. Many of the fishermen have abandoned their usual fishing profession and are involved in daily labourers’ work.

The Eastern Provincial Council Elections which came to Trincomalee after about 20 years was a source of delight to the people as members of Parliament and Ministers they had never before seen, poured into their areas making an effort to solve their problems. Here, present Fisheries Minister Felix Perera and Deputy Minister Neomal Perera take pride of place.

It is no secret that to the people of the area that, during the past Provincial Council elections in Trincomalee, the government had appointed these two Ministers to address the majority of the fishing community. During this time, most of the fisher folk requested the two Ministers to provide them with the opportunity of going to sea at 2 in the morning.

Justice of the Peace Mr. Leelasena Galapaththi, the chairman of the Haaradaas Watte Fishermen’s Association and a long standing fisherman of Trincomalee, revealing the details regarding this issue, stated as follows.

“We are allowed to go for our profession only at 4am… by the time we go to the Point and go through checks and hand over our passes and go to sea it is around four thirty, four forty five am….. it is during the early morning hours that we can catch fish….. after six o’clock the fish do not bite…. the officers of the Navy do not understand this story. That is why we got the Ministers to convey this to the security forces… We respect the protection of the country two hundred percent…we help out.. but we too have to make a living…. our kids have to eat and drink…. we do not have any other job where we can make a living….” Mr. Leelasena Galapaththi stated.

According to Mr. Leelasena Galapaththi, during the time of the past Provincial Council elections, the Minister of Fisheries Felix Perera and Deputy Minister Neomal Perera came to an agreement with the Navy, following a discussion held at the China Harbour, Codbay, Fisheries Corporation to thrash out the problems that the fisher folk face, with regard to going to sea, and permission had been granted to the fishermen to go to sea at 2 in the morning. Although it was, purely a decision given with the aim of targeting future Provincial Elections it resulted in the happiness of fisher folk of the area. At the same time, the fishermen, had stated their willingness not to go to sea on the days that the ships of the Navy were sailing.

“We actually know that these restrictions have been placed on us due to the security situation… but allowing us to go to sea at 2am is not that much of a task.. because there are Navy Points on the beach. There we leave our Identity Cards and then go to sea…. on our return too, we go straight to the Point…. If we are allowed to go to sea at 2am, we can at least get on with our job at least by two thirty, after the checks and obtaining of passes… if we are allowed to do our job for three hours, we do not want anything more…. we will avoid going to sea on the days that the ships of the Navy are sailing. That is because, more than our stomach, the security of the country is of importance.” Mr. S. Kalirasa, a resident of Thirakadavoor states.

It is the Navy who makes the decisions regarding the time period for the fishermen and the area and distance they can work in. It is no surprise that there are certain conflicts between the fishermen and the Navy. The reason being, that the Navy is unaware of the nature of the fishermen’s job and the fishermen are unaware of the nature of the Navy’s job. Whatever said and done, although the present Minister of Fisheries, Mr. Felix Perera had several rounds of discussions with the Navy and the fishermen during the time of the past Provincial Council elections and reached certain agreements, the fishermen of the area point out that in implementing these, various problems crop up.

“The officials who attend the discussion, state in the presence of the Minister that they will do this, according to that…. but the gentlemen at the Navy Point on the beach tell us that they have not received any such order… so, we turn back and go home. Four days before the past Provincial Councils elections were held, we received permission to go to sea at two in the morning… we were very happy about it… However, on the day of the elections, a Navy vessel that was anchored at the harbour within the high security zone, exploded… the very next day the ban was imposed again.. the government won the election… the ministers and members of Parliament went back to Colombo…. we are in the same position as we were.” Thus states a fisherman, a resident of Sirimapura who was against having his identity revealed. He further stated, that many of the fishermen have queries regarding the explosion of the vessel. The reason being that, this vessel which was anchored in the high security zone was attacked by the Tiger organization, which was not an easy task.

Anyhow, the following day, that is on 09^th May 2008, the Tiger Organization accepted the fact officially, that they had attacked the vessel, via their Tamilnet website (www.tamilnet.com/art.htmi?13&artid = 25590) where they stated that their Black Tigers attacked the A520 vessel belonging to the Navy and destroyed it. If they had not accepted the fact, it would not have been possible to set aside the accusation that the Government and the Navy exploded this vessel on purpose and as a signal, once again imposed the restrictions and bans on fishing.

“The time has arrived when we can catch Tuna… this is a period that fishermen can earn a lot of money… We go to Nilaveli, Paramalai and catch the bait and then go to fish for Tuna…. the bait, namely, inguro and dhaamesso which the Tuna eat, are in the area called Paramalai. But now we are not allowed to go to Paramalai….. we kindly, request the Government and the Navy to remove this ban…” thus, states Mr. Ananda Moorthy, a resident of Thirakadavoor.

By this time, the electricity and water supply to many of the fishermen’s houses in the Trincomalee area, have been disconnected and all their jewelry has already been pawned to banks. They pawned their jewelry at the banks, in the hope that, they could redeem the jewelry through the income they earn by selling the Tuna they catch. Their innocent hopes have died at birth itself.

“Our houses got caught to the Tsunami and were destroyed… we did not fall because of that…. because we knew that during the Tuna season, our husbands’ boats are full to the brim with the Tuna catch… but now there is no opportunity to catch the Tuna, quite apart from the fact that we cannot even fish for the bait. Our jewelry is now owned by the banks….. the electricity has been disconnected in our houses…what is left is our lives..,” thus, states, Mrs. Selvarasa Janaarthan, the wife of Mr. Selvarasa, a fisherman resident in the Haaradaas Watte in Trincomalee.

“My husband was a fish merchant earlier. However, this time, books for the children were bought by pawning at the Bank, the two bangles which remained at home…. it is more than two years since we lost our livelihood. During the riots and problems, similar to the other Tamils, we sold the boat engines we had and went to India…. once the problems subsided we came back. Only we know, how we eat and drink. I make stringhoppers and sell them and that is how I find the money to run the home…” says, Lakshmidevi, a resident of Thirakadavoor.

Mr. E.A.G. Premajayantha, a fisherman, resident at Sirimapura, points out that, they have to face a lot of difficulty to obtain the Fisheries Identity Card. According to him, the procedure that was followed earlier on, when issuing the Fisheries Licenses has now changed completely.

“Earlier, once a recommendation was given by the Fisheries Association, the Grama Seva Officer of the area certifies it and hands it over to the Fisheries office….. but now it is different. What is recommended by the Fisheries Association has to be certified by a Justice of the Peace, and then by the Grama Seva Officer and the Police and then finally certified by the Fisheries office and then only be taken to the Navy….this is not easy… especially for Tamil people. At the same time, only a few Sinhala fishermen are able to go to the Codbay Fisheries office… the reason being that there is a Navy camp set up there… others get their work done through these people, by paying them something…. some people have made this into a source of income…. the fishermen have become more helpless due to this….” he said.

Although the inner harbour coastal belt of Trincomalee is home to a good resource of fish, during the past, the Navy, banned the coastal belt to the fishermen and erected barbed wire. Mr. Edwin Appuhamy, who is a traditional drag-net fisherman of the Chinabay, Codbay area, says that this decision is unreasonable.

“My entire family lived from this drag-net. I do not know any other profession… I work with the drag-net in the lagoon area but not where there are vessels in the harbour. The other thing is that the drag-net, is hoisted in from land…. the Navy point is located at the same place… we come to the beach after presenting our Identity Cards…. we mentioned this to the Minister during the election time….. he said he will consider it… he never came this side, after the elections..”

At the discussions, which were headed by the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, Mr. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, and held at the auditorium of the Provincial Council, on the Inner Harbour road, Trincomalee recently, to discuss the problems of the fishermen the Commander in charge of the naval East area Rear Admiral Ananda Pieris stated that, these restrictions and bans are imposed not to harass the fishermen but for national security.

“We are aware of the fact that fishermen are suffering untold difficulties because of this… At this time, supplies for the operations being conducted in the North are being sent by sea. As a result we are forced to act like this. Anyhow we are making arrangements to solve these problems through discussions. There is no conducive situation as yet, so that fishermen can go to sea at two in the morning. I have given instructions, that the checks on fishermen should be done speedily and to send them off to their job.

Anyhow, I believe that we will be able to change this situation entirely, in a very short time…. If the fishermen have any queries, they can talk to us directly through, the Fisheries Societies…. if it is something that can be done, we will definitely do it…. This is not a situation that will remain the same forever. Due to the prevailing situation, there is no possibility of carrying on the fishing profession in the inner harbour… I have clearly explained to the fishermen about this… we have designated that area as a high security zone for the protection of the harbour…”

Mr. Roshan Manjula, the Chairman of the Thirakadavoor, Vipulananda Fishing Society:

“At present we have been given permission to fish in the deep sea area of 5 kilometers between the Koneshwaran square and Pulmoddai. However fish are present in this belt, only during six months of the year. Subsequently, we have to fish between the Koneshwaran square and Lankapatuna until the fish breed in that belt…. however in that belt, that is in the lower sea (Ruhunu Sea) we do not have permission to fish. Nevertheless, fishing is allowed in unprotected areas, not only in Valachchanei, Batticaloa, and Amparai but in Jaffna as well. We request the Government to give us the opportunity to fish in the Ruhunu Sea, subject to the conditions of the Navy.

We have never spoken up against the reasonable conditions which the security forces impose on us on behalf of national security…. it will be the same tomorrow as well… that is because we live in freedom, thanks to the security forces.”

Fishing boat owners in the area are facing hardships due to the fact that Radio Messaging equipment has been made compulsory on single-day vessels. They say that they cannot bear the cost of the equipment since it costs around two lakhs of rupees.

However, what the Navy say in connection with this, is that if a boat owner can spend ten lakhs of rupees to buy a boat, there ought to be no difficulty in purchasing this equipment for two lakhs of rupees.

“We do not purchase a boat because we have cash in hand…. we get a loan from the bank.. we take loans on interest… the other thing is that, these boats are not what we purchased recently. If we could have carried out our job during the past, the two lakhs of rupees would not have been that much for us… But now, these two lakhs seems as if it is over a million rupees,” says, Mr. Ananda, a fisherman, an owner of a single-day vessel, a resident of Samudragama, Trincomalee.

We inquired about this from Provincial Councilor Mrs. Ariyawathie Galapaththi, as she was elected to the Provincial Council as a representative of the fishing community of the area. At the same time she is also in the fisheries business. She says, that the Government will make arrangements to lift this fishing ban as soon as the Mullaitivu area has been liberated.

“The Mullaitivu area has not yet been liberated from the clutches of the terrorists. Therefore the risk has not lessened in any way. I believe that before long, when the Mullaitivu area is liberated by the security forces, the Government will grant permission to the Fishermen of Trincomalee to go to sea at any time of the day.

We realize that it is difficult to purchase, Radio Messaging Equipment for single-day vessels, in a hurry… At this point of time we have discussed with the banks about this matter, to provide the single-day vessel owners with a loan… I believe that in the coming weeks it will be possible to obtain these loans…,” said, Provincial Council Member Mrs. Ariyawathie Galapaththi.

This is the second year since the brave security forces liberated the East. However, the benefits of liberating the Eastern province, have not yet reached the fishing folk of the Gokanna Purawaraya. It seems as if the fishing folk who had to tighten their belts until the war ended have to spend their time in a wretched state in the future, much the same as during the war. The Ministers who visited the place continuously during the Provincial Council election time are not even to be seen now. The only Minister who comes, at least once in a way is Minister of Nation Building Mr. Susantha Punchinilame. However he does not have any knowledge of the problems of the fishermen. The fishing community who have fallen to the bottom of poverty due to the fishing bans, request the government to inform them clearly, only, of the day that their misery will end.