SRI LANKA

Fuel hikes crippling fisheries sector - Fisher trade unions

2 January, 2022


The fisher community sees the recent sudden fuel price revision as a move that would cripple the sector an pave the way for foreign entities to grab land along the coastal belt and establish their businesses in Sri Lanka.

“We consider the continuous price revisions of fuel and even other essential commodities as a move to destablise the fisheries sector enabling global companies to expand their territories making use of the port city to exploit the marine resources of the country,” said All-Ceylon Fisher-Folks Trade Union President Aruna Fernando.

Fisher society representatives said plans afoot to expand the number of fishery harbours in the country needing 35-40 feet draft to facilitate foreign companies to carry out businesses in the country using the cheap labour of the fisher community.

All trade unions of the fisher community will meet this month to map out our plan of action and communicate them to the authorities, a fisheries sector trade union leader said adding that if the lawmakers turn a deaf ear to our grievances the community would resort to tougher action.

“We have been battered for nearly two years with a meagre income due to the pandemic which has shattered the hopes of the community for a better living,” Aruna Fernando said.

The fisheries sector was one of the worst affected sectors due to adverse speculation about chemical contamination on marine life owing to two shipwrecks within a short span in the past two years followed by the global pandemic creating Covid clusters from the Peliyagoda market.

A case had been filed against the damage done to marine life from the vessel that caught fire.

MS ‘X-Press Pearl’, a Singapore-registered ship was sailing from India’s Gujarat to Colombo when a fire broke out onboard on May 20 around nine nautical miles off the Sri Lankan coast.

The fisher community has been calling on lawmakers to formulate a national policy for the fisheries sector which has been a major need to develop the sector.

“We have been clamouring for a national policy to streamline and upgrade the sector which has enormous potential to promote and expand nautical tourism which is a dynamic and lucrative industry globally.

“The need to use new technology for precision and risk mitigation has been a long-felt need for the fisheries sector. Law makers talk high about the country being surrounded by the seas and marine resources but have done pretty little to support the sector especially during tough times.

“We need experts who know the nitty gritties of the sector rather than who make decisions in air-conditioned rooms not knowing anything about the sector,” Fernando said, adding that fisherfolk have no one to look up to for help when crisis hits them.

He said offering pittance during a crisis is an insult on the sector which is a vital cog of the economy.

The government granted Rs. 5,000 during the height of the pandemic for those in the sector to tide over the crisis.

5,000 Indian Rupee = 67.15 US Dollar