An old, tiny temple stands just a few feet from the waves of the Kiranchi beach. A tattered banner flutters in the wind. Maduthi Pathinathan, 71, his son, Pathinathan George Julian, and a few other men sit under the shade of a portia tree on this beach in northern Sri Lanka, reminiscing about the time before sea cucumber farms took over their land.
Looking at the sea, Julian remembers when he played on this beach and when his parents freely and happily fished, leaving their home every morning to reach the sea around 4 a.m. Today, sea cucumber farms float all around. The village is divided, with those who own the sea cucumber farms on one side and those against them on the other. In the sea, designated areas have been fenced off for sea cucumber farms, in the name of some of Julian’s friends, brother and village men. These fences prevent fishermen from accessing the adjoining area, stopping them from the only livelihood they have had and known for generations. Julian says the sea that once belonged to him and his parents is now gone.
As this island nation reels from a deep economic crisis, the result of a crushing debt load, a drop in remittances and the collapse of the tourism trade — one of its biggest foreign currency earners — the government is promoting the development of sea cucumber farms as part of a major effort to generate foreign exchange. On June 20 last year, the Cabinet approved a proposal for a large-scale commercial sea cucumber project spread across 5,000 acres in the Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Batticaloa districts in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka. The aim, it said, was to earn foreign exchange and enhance the livelihood of fishing communities.
But as more sea plots are allocated to these farms, local fishermen like Pathinathan and Julian say these farms are taking away their livelihood, and as a result, the business of fishing has dropped so much that community members must purchase fish, an essential ingredient of a typical Sri Lankan meal. This has forced many fishermen from affected districts to protest. Julian, 27, has been at the forefront of those protesting the spread of sea cucumber farms in Kiranchi, a village in northern Kilinochchi district. Their 149-day-long protest was called off in May, but the struggle, Julian says, is still going on — only now, it’s a legal fight. “Only the form of struggle has changed,” he says.
Following the protest, a case was filed against the father-son duo and another person by an officer from the Ministry of Fisheries. As they appear in court one date after the other, Julian says the fight is on. The next hearing is in September. Officials at the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources did not comment on the case, despite repeated attempts.