http://www.vhrmedia.com/116-Fishermen-Move-to-New-Profession-Every-Day-news3713.html
116 Fishermen Move to New Profession Every Day
(id)6 April 2010 - 17:41 WIB
Nina Suartika - translated by Rosmi Julitasari
VHRmedia, Jakarta – Climate change and damaged coast have pushed fishermen to move to new profession. 116 fishermen have parked their boat for good, due to lack of financial support and environmental damage.
31,000 fishermen lost their source of income every day. “About 1.2 million fishermen could not sail to the sea in 2003 to 2008,” said the General Secretary of The People Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara) Riza Damanik, at their rally in celebrating the International Fishermen Day, Tuesday (4/6).
According to Riza, the condition is worsened by the regulation, which does not strictly protect the fishermen. “We cannot deny it, that it is also caused the regulation, which does not put position on the fishermen’s life.”
By the law on managing coasts and small islands, the government gives limitation of the move of fishermen in purpose. This regulation gives flexibilities for privatecompanies to own the area of public fishing. (E1)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Bomb attack sinks boat, 4 fishermen escape in Katchchatheevu
The information we are receiving from India is not so much good on fisheries. Chandrika Sharma, Executive Secretary of ICSF forwarded the message below is very much disturbed our minds and the work.
As we want to have a serious work between two countries on cross boarder issues, we will have to face serious repurcussions with these type of incidents. WFFP, NFF,ARIF, NAFSO, ICSF and many other concern organizations, trade unions need to take serious attention on this.
NAFSO will take serious attention with ARIF for implement the plans we prepared to intervene the issue.
Here is the report on this incident as appeared in the Hindu News Paper.
Herman Kumara,
07.04.10
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/07/stories/2010040763210400.htm
C. Jaishankar
RAMANATHAPURAM: Four fishermen had a narrow escape when a mechanised boat in Rameswaram was sunk, allegedly by a group of Sri Lankan fishermen.
According to a complaint lodged by the fishermen, who managed to escape, the attack was carried out near Kachchatheevu on Monday. The boat [TN-10 MFB 263] owned by Stalin of Rameswaram sank within moments of a bomb blast triggered by the fishermen reportedly belonging to Delft Island near Kachchatheevu. The fishermen were identified as Stephen (43), Mehallan (25), Alex (25) and Prabu (26) of Rameswaram.
T. Ilamvazhuthi, Assistant Director of Fisheries, Rameswaram, told The Hindu that a preliminary enquiry had revealed that a group of Sri Lankan fishermen, reportedly hailing from Delft Island, carried out the attack opposing the practice of pair trawl net fishing, which was banned. It was stated that fishermen from Delft Island and the nearby islands had earlier warned the Rameswaram fishermen not to follow pair trawling, which might damage the nets cast by them and affect marine wealth in the bottom of the ocean.
There was a report that the boat that was attacked was among a pair of boats, which had cast pair trawl nets.
The fishermen could escape as the attackers blasted the boat after asking them to jump and board the other boat.
The fishermen said their fishing gear and the day's catch were also sunk. Mr. Ilamvazhuthi said the incident was the first of its kind after a gap of nearly three years.
Search order demanded
The fishermen had demanded a search order to locate the boat.
However, a decision would be taken only after collecting all information related to the incident.
Tough action would be taken against those following pair trawl practice, he warned.
As we want to have a serious work between two countries on cross boarder issues, we will have to face serious repurcussions with these type of incidents. WFFP, NFF,ARIF, NAFSO, ICSF and many other concern organizations, trade unions need to take serious attention on this.
NAFSO will take serious attention with ARIF for implement the plans we prepared to intervene the issue.
Here is the report on this incident as appeared in the Hindu News Paper.
Herman Kumara,
07.04.10
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/07/stories/2010040763210400.htm
C. Jaishankar
RAMANATHAPURAM: Four fishermen had a narrow escape when a mechanised boat in Rameswaram was sunk, allegedly by a group of Sri Lankan fishermen.
According to a complaint lodged by the fishermen, who managed to escape, the attack was carried out near Kachchatheevu on Monday. The boat [TN-10 MFB 263] owned by Stalin of Rameswaram sank within moments of a bomb blast triggered by the fishermen reportedly belonging to Delft Island near Kachchatheevu. The fishermen were identified as Stephen (43), Mehallan (25), Alex (25) and Prabu (26) of Rameswaram.
T. Ilamvazhuthi, Assistant Director of Fisheries, Rameswaram, told The Hindu that a preliminary enquiry had revealed that a group of Sri Lankan fishermen, reportedly hailing from Delft Island, carried out the attack opposing the practice of pair trawl net fishing, which was banned. It was stated that fishermen from Delft Island and the nearby islands had earlier warned the Rameswaram fishermen not to follow pair trawling, which might damage the nets cast by them and affect marine wealth in the bottom of the ocean.
There was a report that the boat that was attacked was among a pair of boats, which had cast pair trawl nets.
The fishermen could escape as the attackers blasted the boat after asking them to jump and board the other boat.
The fishermen said their fishing gear and the day's catch were also sunk. Mr. Ilamvazhuthi said the incident was the first of its kind after a gap of nearly three years.
Search order demanded
The fishermen had demanded a search order to locate the boat.
However, a decision would be taken only after collecting all information related to the incident.
Tough action would be taken against those following pair trawl practice, he warned.
"Law enforcement is one way of solution to Indo-SL fisheries issues on Bottom Trawling" Says Thomas Kocherry, Special Invitee, WFFP
The Indian-Sri Lankan fsheries issues are emerging as a one of the most serious issues within the fisheries sector. On one hand it is about reclaiming Katchchthivu island back to India. On the other hand the Indian bottom trawlers are invading the Sri Lankan waters which Sri Lankan fishers in the north of the country are opposing vehemently.
With the latest press release issued by Thomas Kocherry of WFFP has exposed another angle of the reservation on the botom trawling by Tamil Nadu fishers. There is big tension between the Tamil Nadu small scale fishers and Bottom trawl operting communities.
So, the work of ARIF, NFF, NAFSO and many other organizations involved should have take serious attention to solve this problem amicably and according to Tomas Kocherry, it is about Law and Order and Law enforcement issue of Indian, government, Specifically the Tamil Nadu government.
Here is the Press release of Thomas Kocherry, Special Invitee to the WFFP Coordination Committee.
Herman Kumara.
07.04.10
Press Note
There was a fierce fight between Sri Lankan Fishermen and Tamilnadu Mechanised boats who are doing bull trawling in Rameswaram and Kachiadeepu area.. Bull trawling is banned. And hence Ramnadu Traditional Fish Workers Union is also opposing bull trawling. This clash has ended in the death of one of the fishermen. Boats were destroyed. The Government is not maintaining the law and order and not implementing the Tamilnadu Marine Fishing Regulation Act. As a result this continuous law and order problem occurs.
Ramnadu Traditional Fishworkers’ Union President Paulsamy says that the union is going to start to start agitation stop Bull Trawling Completely. This is important to maintain peace between India and Sri Lanka. Thomas Kocherry in a special Press note says that Government of Tamilnadu is responsible for the Law and Problem arisen in Rameswaram area. Let them stop it by implementing Marine Fishing Regulation Act.
Thomas Kocherry
Special Invitee to WFFP
Manavalakurichy
Tamilnadu-629252
India
7-4-2010
With the latest press release issued by Thomas Kocherry of WFFP has exposed another angle of the reservation on the botom trawling by Tamil Nadu fishers. There is big tension between the Tamil Nadu small scale fishers and Bottom trawl operting communities.
So, the work of ARIF, NFF, NAFSO and many other organizations involved should have take serious attention to solve this problem amicably and according to Tomas Kocherry, it is about Law and Order and Law enforcement issue of Indian, government, Specifically the Tamil Nadu government.
Here is the Press release of Thomas Kocherry, Special Invitee to the WFFP Coordination Committee.
Herman Kumara.
07.04.10
Press Note
There was a fierce fight between Sri Lankan Fishermen and Tamilnadu Mechanised boats who are doing bull trawling in Rameswaram and Kachiadeepu area.. Bull trawling is banned. And hence Ramnadu Traditional Fish Workers Union is also opposing bull trawling. This clash has ended in the death of one of the fishermen. Boats were destroyed. The Government is not maintaining the law and order and not implementing the Tamilnadu Marine Fishing Regulation Act. As a result this continuous law and order problem occurs.
Ramnadu Traditional Fishworkers’ Union President Paulsamy says that the union is going to start to start agitation stop Bull Trawling Completely. This is important to maintain peace between India and Sri Lanka. Thomas Kocherry in a special Press note says that Government of Tamilnadu is responsible for the Law and Problem arisen in Rameswaram area. Let them stop it by implementing Marine Fishing Regulation Act.
Thomas Kocherry
Special Invitee to WFFP
Manavalakurichy
Tamilnadu-629252
India
7-4-2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
UN's Ban Ki Moon calls Aral Sea 'shocking disaster'
This is a shocking news I received this morning.
We need to dialogue on this at WFFP which will be a disaster to all over the seas in the future.
The amount of issues emerging in global level is enormous. How we could intervene as a global fisheries movement is a challenge for all of us at WFFP.
Herman
AP – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, right, looks at the ships cemetery in Muynak near Aral Sea, Uzbekistan, …
By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 4, 6:22 pm ET
NUKUS, Uzbekistan – The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet's most shocking environmental disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.
Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region.
The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy and left fishing trawlers stranded in sandy wastelands, leaning over as if they dropped from the air. The sea's evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles.
Ban toured the sea by helicopter as part of a visit to the five countries of former Soviet Central Asia. His trip included a touchdown in Muynak, Uzbekistan, a town once on the shore where a pier stretches eerily over gray desert and camels stand near the hulks of stranded ships.
"On the pier, I wasn't seeing anything, I could see only a graveyard of ships," Ban told reporters after arriving in Nukus, the nearest sizable city and capital of the autonomous Karakalpak region.
"It is clearly one of the worst disasters, environmental disasters of the world. I was so shocked," he said.
The Aral Sea catastrophe is one of Ban's top concerns on his six-day trip through the region and he is calling on the countries' leaders to set aside rivalries to cooperate on repairing some of the damage.
"I urge all the leaders ... to sit down together and try to find the solutions," he said, promising United Nations support.
However, cooperation is hampered by disagreements over who has rights to scarce water and how it should be used.
In a presentation to Ban before his flyover, Uzbek officials complained that dam projects in Tajikistan will severely reduce the amount of water flowing into Uzbekistan. Impoverished Tajikistan sees the hydroelectric projects as potential key revenue earners.
Competition for water could become increasingly heated as global warming and rising populations further reduce the amount of water available per capita.
Water problems also could brew further dissatisfaction among civilians already troubled by poverty and repressive governments; some observers fear that could feed growing Islamist sentiment in the region.
Ban also is taking on the region's frequently poor human rights conditions.
That is likely to be an especially tense issue when he meets Monday with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who has led the country since the 1991 Soviet collapse and imposed severe pressure on opposition and civil rights activists.
The meeting comes less than two weeks after the U.N. Human Rights Committee issued a report criticizing Uzbekistan, including calling for fuller investigation of the brutal suppression of a 2005 uprising in the city of Andijan. Opposition and rights groups claim that hundreds were killed, but authorities insist the reports are exaggerated and angrily reject any
We need to dialogue on this at WFFP which will be a disaster to all over the seas in the future.
The amount of issues emerging in global level is enormous. How we could intervene as a global fisheries movement is a challenge for all of us at WFFP.
Herman
AP – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, right, looks at the ships cemetery in Muynak near Aral Sea, Uzbekistan, …
By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer – Sun Apr 4, 6:22 pm ET
NUKUS, Uzbekistan – The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet's most shocking environmental disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.
Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region.
The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy and left fishing trawlers stranded in sandy wastelands, leaning over as if they dropped from the air. The sea's evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles.
Ban toured the sea by helicopter as part of a visit to the five countries of former Soviet Central Asia. His trip included a touchdown in Muynak, Uzbekistan, a town once on the shore where a pier stretches eerily over gray desert and camels stand near the hulks of stranded ships.
"On the pier, I wasn't seeing anything, I could see only a graveyard of ships," Ban told reporters after arriving in Nukus, the nearest sizable city and capital of the autonomous Karakalpak region.
"It is clearly one of the worst disasters, environmental disasters of the world. I was so shocked," he said.
The Aral Sea catastrophe is one of Ban's top concerns on his six-day trip through the region and he is calling on the countries' leaders to set aside rivalries to cooperate on repairing some of the damage.
"I urge all the leaders ... to sit down together and try to find the solutions," he said, promising United Nations support.
However, cooperation is hampered by disagreements over who has rights to scarce water and how it should be used.
In a presentation to Ban before his flyover, Uzbek officials complained that dam projects in Tajikistan will severely reduce the amount of water flowing into Uzbekistan. Impoverished Tajikistan sees the hydroelectric projects as potential key revenue earners.
Competition for water could become increasingly heated as global warming and rising populations further reduce the amount of water available per capita.
Water problems also could brew further dissatisfaction among civilians already troubled by poverty and repressive governments; some observers fear that could feed growing Islamist sentiment in the region.
Ban also is taking on the region's frequently poor human rights conditions.
That is likely to be an especially tense issue when he meets Monday with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who has led the country since the 1991 Soviet collapse and imposed severe pressure on opposition and civil rights activists.
The meeting comes less than two weeks after the U.N. Human Rights Committee issued a report criticizing Uzbekistan, including calling for fuller investigation of the brutal suppression of a 2005 uprising in the city of Andijan. Opposition and rights groups claim that hundreds were killed, but authorities insist the reports are exaggerated and angrily reject any
ICELAND FISHERS WIN TEHIR RIGHTS AGAINST ITQ SYSTEM
I am privileged to receive numereous letters related to fisheries which are very important to learn some thing. Specially, who ever fight for the rights of the fisher people in the world.
I got the following message from Helan Garland of USA who is helping WFFP at UN head quarters at New York city. This is very interesting story as the ITQ system is one of the instruments use to privatize the fish resources all over the world. It is good to see that Icelandic fishermen have won their case based on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, number [CCPR/C/91/D/1306/2004]. This would be a preceding for the small scale fishers who are loosing their fishing rights all over the world.
I am sharing this with you all for your information.
Herman
Draft: March 10, 2009
Iceland’s ITQ system has been challenged repeatedly in court. The first case concerned the manner in which Iceland initially grantedfishing licenses; the government distributed licenses to only those people who owned vessels during the short period November 1982 to October 1993. In the Valdimar case, a fisherman filed a case after he was denied a fishing license and catch quota because he did not own a boat during this period. In December 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to restrict the right to fish to the small group of people who were fishing during a restricted period of time. In response to the decision, the government of Iceland revised the fisheries management law to allow fishing licenses to be granted to all new vessels, with or without quotas, but did not change the ITQ system.
Two years later, another fisherman challenged the ITQ system in the Vatneyri case. This time the Supreme Court sided with the Ministry of Fisheries and found that ITQ system was legal and the government could make permanent allocation of quotas to a restricted group of people.
In 2001, fishermen Erlingur Sveinn Haraldsson and Orn Snaevar Sveinsson challenged the ITQ system again. The two fishermen had purchased a boat in 1998 but were unable to obtain a quota despite repeated applications for catch entitlements. They were able to lease a quota but paid such an exorbitant rental fee that they faced bankruptcy. In September 2001, the fishermen wrote to the Ministry of Fisheries and declared that they intended to fish without quotas and planned to challenge the ITQ system in court. After the fishermen broke the law, they were charged with fishing without a quota. Haraldsson and Sveinsson filed a claim challenging the constitutionality of the ITQ system but the Supreme Court of Iceland ruled that the quota system was legal.
After losing their case in Iceland, the fishermen filed a claim with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. They alleged that Iceland’s ITQ system violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights because the system forced them to pay money to a privileged group of citizens, the owners of fishing quotas, in order to pursue their occupation. In October 2007, the Committee ruled that Iceland’s ITQ system did violate international law. In its written decision, the Committee reasoned that although Iceland’s Fisheries Management Act stated that the fishing banks around Iceland were the common property of the nation, the ITQ system transformed the right to use and exploit public property into individual property. The committee found that “the property entitlement privilege accorded permanently to the original quota owners…is not based on reasonable grounds.” The Committee further argued that allocated quotas that were no longer used by their original holders should revert to the State for allocation to new quota holders in accordance with fair and equitable criteria. The UN ruled that the two fishermen should be compensated for their damages and that Iceland should take measures to give effect to the Committee’s decision. As of this date, the Government of Iceland has neither paid damages nor changed its ITQ system to comply with the UN’s decision.
I got the following message from Helan Garland of USA who is helping WFFP at UN head quarters at New York city. This is very interesting story as the ITQ system is one of the instruments use to privatize the fish resources all over the world. It is good to see that Icelandic fishermen have won their case based on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, number [CCPR/C/91/D/1306/2004]. This would be a preceding for the small scale fishers who are loosing their fishing rights all over the world.
I am sharing this with you all for your information.
Herman
Draft: March 10, 2009
Iceland’s ITQ system has been challenged repeatedly in court. The first case concerned the manner in which Iceland initially grantedfishing licenses; the government distributed licenses to only those people who owned vessels during the short period November 1982 to October 1993. In the Valdimar case, a fisherman filed a case after he was denied a fishing license and catch quota because he did not own a boat during this period. In December 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to restrict the right to fish to the small group of people who were fishing during a restricted period of time. In response to the decision, the government of Iceland revised the fisheries management law to allow fishing licenses to be granted to all new vessels, with or without quotas, but did not change the ITQ system.
Two years later, another fisherman challenged the ITQ system in the Vatneyri case. This time the Supreme Court sided with the Ministry of Fisheries and found that ITQ system was legal and the government could make permanent allocation of quotas to a restricted group of people.
In 2001, fishermen Erlingur Sveinn Haraldsson and Orn Snaevar Sveinsson challenged the ITQ system again. The two fishermen had purchased a boat in 1998 but were unable to obtain a quota despite repeated applications for catch entitlements. They were able to lease a quota but paid such an exorbitant rental fee that they faced bankruptcy. In September 2001, the fishermen wrote to the Ministry of Fisheries and declared that they intended to fish without quotas and planned to challenge the ITQ system in court. After the fishermen broke the law, they were charged with fishing without a quota. Haraldsson and Sveinsson filed a claim challenging the constitutionality of the ITQ system but the Supreme Court of Iceland ruled that the quota system was legal.
After losing their case in Iceland, the fishermen filed a claim with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. They alleged that Iceland’s ITQ system violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights because the system forced them to pay money to a privileged group of citizens, the owners of fishing quotas, in order to pursue their occupation. In October 2007, the Committee ruled that Iceland’s ITQ system did violate international law. In its written decision, the Committee reasoned that although Iceland’s Fisheries Management Act stated that the fishing banks around Iceland were the common property of the nation, the ITQ system transformed the right to use and exploit public property into individual property. The committee found that “the property entitlement privilege accorded permanently to the original quota owners…is not based on reasonable grounds.” The Committee further argued that allocated quotas that were no longer used by their original holders should revert to the State for allocation to new quota holders in accordance with fair and equitable criteria. The UN ruled that the two fishermen should be compensated for their damages and that Iceland should take measures to give effect to the Committee’s decision. As of this date, the Government of Iceland has neither paid damages nor changed its ITQ system to comply with the UN’s decision.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
WHAT A PATHETIC SITUATION OF MARGINAL FISHERS LIKE JASINTHA'S FAMILY.
I met a fish worker today at Sinhagama, Beruwala. He is Sunil and just a temporary labour of a canoe, which is one of the most primitive type fishing gear in our fishing communities. They are the most marginalized and under privileged people as they earn very small amount compare to small boats, beach seines or the multiday boats. His wife is jasintha and a very much couragous and religious woman. She happen to be the chair person of the community welfare society of Welcome Village at Beruwala.
His fishing day start at the previous day night and he goes to the shore and stay there till he go to the sea. Unfortunately, some days, he doesn't go for fishing as the canoe owner has some other engagements. Unless they go for fishing there is no any income unless he get some fish from helping to other boats to pull the boats to the shore or collect fish from the nets, clean the boat or mend the fish nets etc.
He has two children, one girl and a boy and only boy is going to school at the moment. Unless they earn anything from fishing like today, they do not have any other income and no saving at all, family suffer lot of difficulties.
The situation is so much hard to see as the same family is a victim of cyclone. There was no any way to repair the house as they do not have any saving, no cooperation from the community, no unity in the village welfare society, and no collective way of facing the difficulties of the community members.
We, as NAFSO do not have any way to help them as we also face some financial difficulties at the moment.
But, we expect to do some support the family as they are still live in faith to god and to the community as well.
His fishing day start at the previous day night and he goes to the shore and stay there till he go to the sea. Unfortunately, some days, he doesn't go for fishing as the canoe owner has some other engagements. Unless they go for fishing there is no any income unless he get some fish from helping to other boats to pull the boats to the shore or collect fish from the nets, clean the boat or mend the fish nets etc.
He has two children, one girl and a boy and only boy is going to school at the moment. Unless they earn anything from fishing like today, they do not have any other income and no saving at all, family suffer lot of difficulties.
The situation is so much hard to see as the same family is a victim of cyclone. There was no any way to repair the house as they do not have any saving, no cooperation from the community, no unity in the village welfare society, and no collective way of facing the difficulties of the community members.
We, as NAFSO do not have any way to help them as we also face some financial difficulties at the moment.
But, we expect to do some support the family as they are still live in faith to god and to the community as well.