Tamil fishers continue to siege DFAR office in Mullaith-theevu amidst threats from SL Police

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2018, 15:29 GMT]
Hundreds of Eezham Tamil fishers laid siege to the district office of the SL Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) in Mullaith-theevu on Thursday as the SL Assistant Director at the office has failed to take action against the destructive fishing and poaching by the fishers coming from other districts, and particularly those who come from outside the North-East. The protest, which started off with a march of demonstration, gained momentum as the protesters broke the fences of the district DFAR office, entered its premises and laid siege to the building. On Friday, the SL Police was preparing to file cases against the participants accusing them of causing destruction to public property, informed sources in Mullaith-theevu said. However, the protesters continue to keep the DFAR office besieged.



Tension prevailed on Thursday as the SL police were unable to control the protesters.

However, the protesters later allowed the officials to leave the premises.

The Tamil protesters are now demanding firm action against intruding fishers from the outside districts.

On 08 August, a meeting has been scheduled to take place in Colombo between the representatives of the fisheries associations and the SL Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development.

The siege will continue until they receive a favourable response in that meeting, according to the representatives of the protesting fisheries associations in Mullaith-theevu.

The DFAR is the main implementation body of the SL ministry.

The Tamil fishermen accuse the DFAR of collaborating with major export businesses, based in the South.

These export-oriented corporates often deploy the fishermen from Puththa'lam and Negombo as divers to catch sea cucumbers in the North.

Influential politicians in the South and the occupying SL Navy get their shares by facilitating access to the massive-scale exploitation, which is taking place from Mukaththuvaaram in Kokku'laay in the south of Mullaiththeevu up to Chaalai in the north of the district.

Even according to the DFAR permits, one cannot engage in harvesting sea cucumbers within the limit of 5 km to the coast.

However, the intruders, claiming that they have ‘MOD’ (SL Ministry of Defence) clearance, engage in poaching inside the 5 km limit.



Since the poachers use strong lights during the diving in the nights, fishes keep themselves away.

The intruding Sinhala fishers use explosives, complicating the situation even further.

As such, the ecosystem along the coast of the country of Eezham Tamils gets destroyed.

Often, the Sinhala poachers cut away the fishing nets of the local fishers, causing physical damage to the properties.

The intruders also engage in fishing in the territorial waters.

Furthermore, they have seized the fishing Paadus (an area of coastal sea-bed falling within the scope of a 10 feet long draw-net). They have occupied almost all the 14 Paadus in the division of Karai-thu'raip-pattu alone.

The encroaching fishermen, operating with the backing of the SL Navy, have occupied the entire village of Mukaththuvaaram (the southernmost village the Northern Province) setting up temporary and permanent housing. At the same time, the occupying Sinhala Navy is blocking the Eezham Tamils from resettling there.



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