{"id":115392,"date":"2021-06-20T16:19:56","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T23:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=115392"},"modified":"2021-06-20T16:19:56","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T23:19:56","slug":"sri-lanka-defends-move-to-build-artificial-reef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/06\/20\/sri-lanka-defends-move-to-build-artificial-reef\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka defends move to build artificial reef"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It is not only the government that defended the move, but also Jaffna-based fisher cooperatives.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Days after Tamil Nadu fishermen protested Sri Lanka\u2019s efforts to build an artificial reef off Delft island, west of Jaffna peninsula, authorities defended the move aimed at enhancing fish breeding\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Sri Lanka\u2019s Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, with the assistance of Navy, launched a project, dropping around 20 discarded buses into the sea off Delft, as was earlier done in other parts of the island nation, including the eastern Trincomalee district, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many countries, including India, have in the past created artificial reefs to facilitate fish spawning. Old train carriages were used in the US, for instance,\u201d Cabinet Minister for Fisheries Douglas Devananda, who represents Jaffna district in parliament, told The Hindu. The move was backed by research undertaken by Sri Lanka\u2019s National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By objecting to an initiative in Sri Lanka\u2019s territorial waters, Tamil Nadu fisher leaders have only exposed themselves as parties interested in fishing illegally in the Palk Strait,\u201d he said, referring to the long-persisting Palk Bay fisheries conflict<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Persisting problem<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Scores of Tamil fishermen living in the war-affected northern and eastern districts of Sri Lanka have, for over a decade now, been protesting Tamil Nadu fishermen\u2019s use of destructive bottom trawlers along their coast, severely impacting the marine ecosystem and their post-war livelihoods. Despite ongoing bilateral discussions and several rounds of talks between fishermen of both countries, Tamil Nadu fishermen are yet to meet northern Sri Lankan fishermen\u2019s consistent demand that they stop bottom-trawling in their seas. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu fishermen have accused the Sri Lankan Navy of attacking and killing fishermen \u2014 allegations that the Sri Lankan side denies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, members of the All Mechanised Boat Fishermen Association, held a protest in Rameswaram last week, urging Sri Lanka to stop dropping iron scrap\u201d into the sea, since would affect\u201d marine ecology in the Palk Strait, and also damage\u201d their own boats and nets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a tweet indicating Sri Lanka sees its recent initiative also as a deterrent to bottom-trawling, State Minister of Fisheries Kanchana Wijesekera said while the artificial reef would boost fish spawning, it will also act as a shield against bottom line trawling conducted illegally by the #Indian Fishermen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not only the government that defended the move, but also Jaffna-based fisher cooperatives. This initiative is aimed at helping our livelihoods by increasing fish production, and that is why we have welcomed it. We condemn certain sections of fisher leaders in Tamil Nadu opposing the move,\u201d said Annalingam Annarasa, leader of the federation of fisher cooperative societies in Jaffna.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu It is not only the government that defended the move, but also Jaffna-based fisher cooperatives. Days after Tamil Nadu fishermen protested Sri Lanka\u2019s efforts to build an artificial reef off Delft island, west of Jaffna peninsula, authorities defended the move aimed at enhancing fish breeding\u201d. Last week, Sri Lanka\u2019s Department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}