JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Thuraireasa Ravikaran, a member of Parliament for the Vanni district from the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, or ITAK, has urged the government to remove Indian trawlers and other vessels that have long crowded Myliddy Fisheries Harbour, saying they are preventing local fishing families from fully using a harbour that was once one of northern Sri Lanka’s most important fishing centers.
Mr. Ravikaran raised the issue at a meeting of Parliament’s Ministerial Consultative Committee on Ports and Civil Aviation, according to a statement issued by his office. He called on the authorities to clear the vessels and make the harbour fully accessible to fishermen from the surrounding communities.
Myliddy, on the northern coast of the Jaffna Peninsula, was once a major center of Sri Lanka’s fishing industry before war and mass displacement devastated the local economy. The harbour was built in 1973 following demands from fishermen in the area, Mr. Ravikaran said, and was used by about 1,000 fishing families until residents were displaced from their homes in 1990.
More than three decades later, local fishermen say they are still unable to make full use of the harbour.
Mr. Ravikaran said he visited Myliddy on June 5 after receiving complaints from fishermen and found parts of the harbour crowded with Indian trawlers seized by Sri Lankan authorities after allegedly entering the country’s territorial waters illegally.
Many of the seized vessels have been left at the harbour for an extended period, taking up valuable space while local fishermen struggle for access. Despite previous efforts and announcements concerning the removal of such vessels, fishermen say the problem has persisted.
Mr. Ravikaran said local fishermen had also complained that much of the remaining usable space, apart from the areas occupied by the seized Indian trawlers, was being used by fishermen from southern Sri Lanka.
“Please do not create a situation in which our fishermen, who live near the harbour, are forced to stand by and watch while being unable to use it,” Mr. Ravikaran said. “Our fishermen, too, must be able to earn their daily livelihood.”
He described the situation as a violation of the fishermen’s basic rights and urged the authorities to remove the seized vessels and restore the harbour for local fishing activities.
“Do not strike at the livelihoods of our Tamil fishermen,” he said.
Anura Karunathilaka, the minister of ports and civil aviation, said the matter would require discussions with the fisheries minister and officials responsible for fisheries and aquatic resources before further action could be taken, according to Mr. Ravikaran’s statement.
