SRI LANKA Sri Lankan fishermen protest high fuel prices: families go hungry

The workers accuse the government of ignoring the seriousness of the crisis. The price of fuel went from 25 cents to almost one euro per liter. The loss of income is reflected in the inability to feed families. Fishing and related sectors employ more than 10% of the population of 22 million inhabitants.

Colombo () – “How can we get our boats out to sea without fuel? And how can we feed our children if we don’t cast the nets? Well, let the government feed our families”. In dialogue with , is a desperate cry of alarm (similar to that of many other companions) of the Catholic fisherman Loyal Fernando. He is the spokesperson for the protest in the Thoduwawa area of ​​Chilaw, one of the main towns in the Puttalam district of North West province. He accuses the government and the highest institutions of Sri Lanka, which seem to deliberately ignore the concerns of the fishermen, especially the smaller ones, who are at the same time the majority of the sector, one of the main “resources” for the country’s economy and from the whole area.

The latest government statistics show that fishing and related sectors employ more than 10% of the population, 22 million inhabitants of the entire island. For this reason, the situation could have strong repercussions in a nation already marked by a very serious crisis, not only economic, since it also affects institutions and civil society. Aruna Roshantha, from Negombo, adds that so far the government “has no program for the fishermen. Parliament does not say a single word about us. They only discuss programs to protect their jobs,” she denounces. “The fuel is sent to different places whenever the ministry sees fit. This causes conflicts between the fishermen,” she adds.

Aruna also speaks on behalf of many other families and stresses that after three months the fighting in the streets has resumed. The objective is to defend the rights and protect the workers in the sector, who now “have no food.” “There is no way to live. We cannot afford to stay at home when our children cry from hunger. “We need the fuel to be sold at a fixed price,” he warns. “If not, let us have the food delivered.” That’s all what we ask.” “We demand payment of at least 40 thousand rupees (about 110 euros) per family for the last three months, as compensation for lost work.” And we also want fuel at reasonable prices, not at the “speculative prices” of recent days.

In the past, fuel for ships used to cost 87 rupees per liter (about 25 euro cents), but in the last period prices have skyrocketed to 340 rupees per liter (almost one euro). The fishermen complain that the costs are unsustainable and demand that the increases be limited and that “reasonable” prices be applied again, or else “that the government feed our families”. A demand that is shared and reaffirmed by Herman Kumara, the national coordinator of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO). In dialogue with , refers to the state of deep crisis in which small fishermen (Small Scale Fishers, SSF) find themselves. He warns that they do not receive an adequate amount of fuel and that more than 75% of them have left the sector. However, he denounces, “it is clear that this government does not listen to the poorest and most marginalized, who contribute to feeding the country.”

The protests and demonstrations began on August 17 and affect several places in Sri Lanka, from Karukupanei to Muthupanthia, and even districts in the north such as Mullaitivu, Jaffna and Mannar, or in the south, from Galle to Matara. Herman Kumara concludes his statement with a bitter joke: “We can consider all this as a gift from the Government to the fishermen”, in the International Year of Small-Scale Fisheries and Aquaculture” declared by the UN.