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Now Lankan boat owners in North take to bottom trawling
Converted mechanised bottom trawlers with pulleys moored in Gurunagar
Mechanised bottom trawling—the harmful practice of scraping the ocean bed for catch such as prawns and sea cucumber—is spreading rapidly in the North, perpetrated by a band of influential Sri Lankan boat owners inspired by Government lenience on illegal Indian fishing in local waters.
This group is buying up one-day boats in the South and transporting them to the North where they are repaired, converted for mechanised bottom trawling and put out to sea. The vessels were built in the 1970s and are typically 29 feet long and three-and-a-half tons in weight. They fell out of use as their owners deemed them uneconomical. The total cost of purchasing and renovating the boats is around Rs. 400,000, industry sources said.
These boats are now frequently taken to the North in lorries, sometimes several times a week. Bottom trawling by Sri Lankan fishermen is particularly prevalent between June and August when Indian intruders keep away due to an annual three-month trawling ban imposed by the State of Kerala.
But it also occurs during other times of the year. When increased policing by the Navy and Coastguard limits the Indians to their side of the maritime border, these Sri Lankan fishermen fill their space. They trawl mostly off the seas of Gurunagar and Velvettiturai in Jaffna and Pesalai in Mannar. Today, scores of converted bottom trawlers can be seen in these areas, moored and in various stages of renovation.
“It is worsening now,” reports A.S. Soosai, a Jaffna University Professor and fisheries researcher. He estimated that there were around 200 trawlers in Jaffna. “Last year, there were around 100 boats in Pesalai in the Mannar district,” he said. “Now it has gone up to around 150. Weekly, three or four new trawlers are coming to Mannar.” The vessels are owned by rich Sinhala or Tamil businessmen and fish merchants.
Fisheries Director General M.C.L. Fernando confirmed that Sri Lankan fishermen were also engaged in mechanised bottom trawling in the North. It is harmful, he said, but it would be unfair to try and stop the locals now when Indian boats repeatedly trespassed into Sri Lankan waters for the same purpose. He guessed that there were around 125 trawlers in Velvettiturai, 125 more in Gurunagar and more than 200 in Pesalai, where the problem is most pronounced.
Tamil National Alliance MP M.A. Sumanthiran is backing a total ban on bottom trawling in Sri Lanka, partly as a step towards stopping Indian illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in local waters. In April, he presented a Bill in Parliament to give effect to the prohibition. The draft was sent to the Provincial Councils for their comment. But, as in India, the boat owners have proved a powerful lobby against the immediate ban that Mr Sumanthiran is pushing for.
The Bill was considered by the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) earlier this year. Members laid down conditions. “The livelihood interests of the families of almost 1,800 trawler boat fishermen and their crew who are now engaged in trawler fishing in Velvettiturai, Gurunagar, Mannar, etc, have to be suitably safeguarded before implementing the provisions of the Act,” NPC Chairman Kandiyah Sivagnanam said, in a letter to the Secretary General of Parliament.
“Safeguard provisions should be embodied in the Bill,” he continued. “Alternate livelihood employment opportunities should be ensured before implementation of the Act. Sufficient period of time should be given to enable these families to acquaint themselves with the alternative opportunities provided.”
These excuses are similar to the ones proffered by Indian politicians when the Sri Lankan Government urges them to clamp down on IUU fishing. In Sri Lanka, however, the problem is still relatively small and would be easier to eradicate. On the Indian side, there is now a massive flotilla of trawlers that habitually carries out IUU fishing.
A single-day boat being taken to Jaffna to be converted to a bottom trawler
Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Ministry has drafted regulations to give effect to a ban on mechanised industrial bottom trawling, officials confirmed. The proposal is now with the Legal Draftsman’s Department. However, it makes an allowance for “artisanal trawling” by Sri Lankan fishermen to continue on the basis that it is not as harmful to the marine ecosystem as the invasive method used by Indian IUU fishers.
However, fisheries activists say that leaving space for any sort of trawling is “a slippery slope”. “The Indian trawlers cause more harm than the local ones due to size, capacity, etc,” accepted Mr. Sumanthiran. “But, if any exception is made, that will be used as a loophole and also will not help to eradicate this menace once and for all.”
According to information gathered by Mr. Sumanthiran, there are now about 800 boats carrying out bottom trawling in the North. “I don’t think it’s proper to delay the ban based on local trawlers,” he insisted. “Thousands of local fishermen are up in arms against these trawlers, which are owned by a handful of people. All the fisher societies of the Jaffna District unanimously requested me to bring this Bill.”
Bottom trawling is universally recognized as being harmful to the marine ecosystem. It involves scraping the seabed of all its marine life, including fish fry. Between 80 to 90 percent of catch is discarded. Indian mechanised trawlers are massive in comparison with the Sri Lankan boats which are essentially single-day boats with inboard engines. The former are fitted with mechanical winches (hauling devices with ropes or chain) while many of the converted trawlers in Sri Lanka’s North are installed with pulleys that are used to bring up the catch.
There is currently no legislation banning mechanised bottom trawling in Sri Lanka. However, the Department of Fisheries has suspended the issuing of licences for the practice, in recognition of the serious environmental damage it causes.
“Every trawler puts ten small fishermen out of business,” said Steve Creech, a freelance fisheries consultant. “Mechanised bottom trawling is bad for livelihoods and employment and is bad for the environment.”