Sri Lanka’s most war-affected community
S Thavaratnam, chairman of the Jaffna District Fishermen's Cooperative Society Unions Federation, played a significant role in unionising fishermen in northern Sri Lanka, starting in the mid-1970s. At that time, small unions were established in every fishing village across the Northern Province. As the civil war took hold, however, communication across villages became difficult and the federation was disrupted, and the unions in the Jaffna District functioned as a smaller federation. Thavaratnam became the president of that federation in 1995. He recently spoke with Himal contributing editor Ahilan Kadirgamar, and explained the impact of the civil war on the fishing industry, the problem of South Indian trawlers encroaching on Sri Lankan waters, and the need for more advanced boats. Translated from the Tamil.
Tell us a bit about the tradition of fishing in northern Sri Lanka.
I grew up in a village called Mylitty, in northern Jaffna, which was famous for its fishing industry. Prior to the war, five to six large vehicles of fish were sent daily to the south from my village. A fishing harbour, the only one in northern Jaffna, was built in Mylitty in the late 1970s. Even now, if the High Security Zone [in the northern part of Jaffna] is lifted, I am confident that we can resume the great fishing tradition of my village.