The occupying Sinhala Navy has renovated 300 huts in Naayaa’ru in Karaithu’raip-pattu division for the use of encroaching Sinhala fishermen from South. The SL Ministry of Fisheries and the SL Fisheries Department are backing the influx of Sinhala fishermen from other provinces into Mullaiththeevu despite repeated requests from the native fisheries societies in the district not to create conditions for confrontations between the Tamil and the Sinhala fishermen, says S. Jeya, the chairman of the fisheries federation in the district. The intruding Sinhala fishermen were staying from January/February to September last year and were engaged in fishing along the entire coast of Karaithu’raippattu division and Naayaa’ru lagoon. Last year, the SL Fisheries Department in Colombo had given permits to a large number of boat owners, amounting to 72 boats, from outside the province last year. However, an overwhelming number of boats exceeding that figure had come from outside provinces and engaged in illegal fishing activities from Naayaa’ru to Mukaththuvaaram with the backing of SL Navy and the Sinhala police in 2017. The native fishermen federation says there were 377 boats from outside provinces and five to seven intruding fishermen were seen operating each boat throughout the 9 months. The majority of Sinhala fishermen and their families who had camped in Mukaththuvaaram went back to their villages after September last year. In the meantime, the Sinhala Navy was looking after their properties and huts for four months. The fisheries societies in Mullaiththeevu had requested the SL fisheries authorities not to renew the permits of the intruding fishermen from South. But, the first fishing vessel was spotted on 13th January entering Naayaa’ru without any permit, civil sources in Karaithu’raippatu said. The livelihood of war-affected Tamil fishermen in the division was completely shattered in recent years due to the influx of Sinhala fishermen from South. Apart from destroying the livelihood of native fishermen, the occupying fishermen were also causing massive destruction to the eco system and the coastal environment.
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