Tamil fisherman rammed by intruding Sinhala fishermens’ boat, fishing disputes escalate in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 October 2017, 19:12 GMT]
Speedboats of intruding Sinhala fishermen on Saturday attacked a Tamil fisherman, who was engaged in fishing in the seas off Vadamaraadchi East in a small vessel. The injured fisherman was admitted to Pazhai hospital and later transferred to Jaffna hospital for further treatment. The violent incident comes after a section of Tamil fishermen detained a group of intruding Sinhala fishermen on Thursday morning in the seas off Vadamaraadchi East at Naakarkoayil. The Sinhala fishermen had destroyed the fishing nets of the Tamil fishermen and the intruders engaged in illegal fishing of sea cucumbers and chanks were handed over to the SL Police at Pazhai. The Divisional Secretary of Maruthangkea'ni also went on record in local newspapers on Friday that no-one was allowed to engage in sea cucumber and chank fishing along the coast in the entire division.

The Sinhala fishermen, angered by the move, were behind the attack, representatives of Maruthangkea'ni fishermen's association told TamilNet on Sunday.

The fishermen from South were encroaching into Vadamaraadchi East with the backing of occupying Sinhala military.

After seizing almost the entire coast of Eezham Tamils from Naayaa'ru to Mukaththuvaaram in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division, the encroachers are now targeting the coast of Maruthangkea'ni division.

The Divisional Secretary K. Kanakeswaran had told local media that the encroachers were entering his division with permits from Mullaiththeevu, which is a different district.

In the meantime, SL Police is not acting against the intruders as the entire system belongs to Sinhalese, the fishing society representatives said.

If the provincial council had the police power, there would at least be proper records to prove who is committing the crime. Tamil fishermen engaging in fishing are organised as collectives. When one fisherman is assaulted or the fishing nets are destroyed, all in the collective are affected, the representatives further said.

Occupying Colombo's Fisheries Department has also been promoting the demographic and structural genocide against Tamil fishermen by bringing in hundreds of Sinhala fishermen into Tamil areas in the Northern province.

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