Sinhala colonization threatens fishermen of Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 February 2011, 23:47 GMT]
The number of Sinhala fishermen from South, camping close to Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Navy camps in the SL occupied Vadamaraadchi East and Mullaiththeevu, has doubled within a short period in the recent weeks, causing alarm among the fishermen associations of resettled Tamil fishermen. Commanders of the occupying Sri Lankan military have become brokers bringing in hundreds of fishermen from south and allowing them to operate from coastal areas where Tamil civilians are denied resettlement, complained representatives of fishermen societies in Vadamaraadchi East to media on Tuesday.



The fishermen from South, under the pretext of Chank fishery in Vanni, have virtually occupied the fishing beds outmanoeuvring the resettled Tamil fishermen from their catch.

Around one thousand Sinhala fishermen have entered the seas of Vanni in the recent weeks.

While on the one hand, intruding Indian trawlers destroy the fishing nets and the sea resources with prohibited bottom trawling, the Sri Lankan fishermen from south occupy the coast and seas of the Tamil homeland.

The southern fishermen deploy modern tools to identify the fishing resources in the sea.



Chronology: