The awareness raising program on Drafted new fisheries bill 2023 was conducted at Trincomalee on 17th December 2023 which was facilitated by DIFSO- Trincomalee.
The fishers from
various communities of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims were attended representing
various fisheries Cooperative societies in Trincomalee District. After
listening to the session, the Chairperson of District Fisheries Federation
Piyal expressed his concerns and said, "Why such an act we need in hurried
manner? Why not fisheries minister guided his officials to consult experienced
fishers before drafting the bill? Why do we need to respect laws on us which
are prepared by officials without having experience of real life of fishers?
The fisher people
both men, women and the youth attended the meeting proposed series of actions.
As a first step, District Fisheries Federation will send a letter to Minister
of Fisheries objecting adopting the fisheries act without their participation.
All the participants agreed that "Nothing on us Without Us." when
Nishaka Rangani,
the district Coordinator of Trincomalee said at the event and to take immediate
actions before pass the bill in the Parliament.
Priyankara Costa,
Coordinator, Praja Abhilasha Network said, "We are not fishers. We
did our part as giving understanding of the new bill. Now it is your turn to
write letters, petitions, display banners, meet politicians and ask not to
raise hands to pass the bill in the Parliament."
Herman Kumara,
Convener of NAFSO Sri Lanka facilitated the session and
challenged the participants to approach Minister of Fisheries as earliest
possible time and tell, "We do not agree to the proposed act. If you need
a new act, begin the process of Drafting a fresh act with the participation of
fishers. Get the knowledge and experience of Fisher people, and to supportive
to launch the new fisheries policy."
We don't see the
positive things in the act as the strong positions of foreign fishing vessels
act, act against bottom trawling, banning of light purse seines, banning of
Lyla, Surukku nets have been diluted in this bill.
Finally, Piyal the Chairperson of Trincomalee District Fisheries Federation said, "We suspect, this is something that you give Elder sister at marriage though you showed the younger sister at the day when bridegroom came to see the bride." (Nangi Pennala Akkawa Dunna wage wadak)
2023.12.17 වන අද දින ත්‍රිකුණාමල දිස්ත්‍රික් ධීවර සහයෝගිතා ව්‍යාපාරය මගින් නව ධීවර පනත පිළිබඳව දැනුවත් කිරීමේ වැඩසටහනක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලදී. ඒ සඳහාසම්පත් දායකත්වය දක්වන ලද්දේ ජාතික ධීවර සහයෝගීතා ව්‍යාපාරයේ කැඳුම්කාරතුමා වන හර්මන් කුමාර මහතා සහ ප්‍රජාභිලාසී ජාලය සම්බන්ධීකාරක ප්‍රියංකර කොස්තා මහතා විසිනි. ඒ සඳහා ත්‍රිකුණාමල දිස්ත්‍රික් ධීවර සමිති නායක නායිකාවන් සහ අප සංවිධානයේ කුඩා සමිති සාමාජිකයින් ද ඇතුලුව හතළිහකට ආසන්න පිරිසක් සහභාගී විය. එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වු ධීවරයින් පවසා සිටියේ ඔවුන්ගේ ධීවර සමිති තුළ සිටින අනෙකුත් ධීවර ප්‍රජාව දැනුවත් කරන බවත් සහ බලපෑම් ක්‍රියාවලියක් ඉදිරියේදී සිදු කල යුතු බවත්ය.
