SRI LANKA: FISHERMEN RETURN TO WORK AS FISH MARKETS STRUGGLE TO RECOVER FROM INDIAN OCEAN TIDAL WAVE.

Record ID: 648832

  • Title: SRI LANKA: FISHERMEN RETURN TO WORK AS FISH MARKETS STRUGGLE TO RECOVER FROM INDIAN OCEAN TIDAL WAVE.
  • Date: 7th January 2005
  • Summary: (U1) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (JANUARY 7, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: OF FISH MARKET IN COLOMBO. (7 SHOTS) 1.04 2. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhalese) FISH SELLER PRADEEP SAYING: "There is no fish now because there are no boats. After the 26th there are no fish because boats have been destroyed or damaged." 1.14 (U1) HIKKADUWA, SRI LANKA (JANUARY 7, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. SCU: TWO FISHERMEN POITING OUT TO SEA. 1.23 4. WS: BOAT AT SEA LOOKING TOWARDS SHORE. 1.35 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhalese) FISHERMAN G.D.PIYADASA SAYING: "We in the fishing industry made a living and were not dependent on anybody. Now people have fallen to desperate levels. There are people who don't have anything to wear." 1.58 6. SCU: FISHERMAN ON BOAT. 2.05 7. WS/CU: FISHERMEN HANDLING NETS ON DOCKSIDE. (2 SHOTS) 2.16 (U1) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (JANUARY 7, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. VARIOUS: SECRETARY TO THE MINISTRY OF FISHERIES V. BAMBARAWANAGE AT HIS DESK. (2 SHOTS) 2.29 9. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) SECRETARY TO THE MINISTRY OF FISHERIES V. BAMBARAWANAGE SAYING: "It will be the second tsunami if people don't eat fish. Within the next couple of weeks, the people will bring in more fish, tuna, and especially tuna varieties don't eat carcasses, the corpses. If it is alive, the killer sharks may try to attack you and eat but small fish, especially, artisan fishermen they don't go to sea now. It's only multi-day boats will bring in tuna variety fish, they don't eat humans. It's perfectly 100 percent safe fish so there's nothing to worry about but the quality is not contaminated it's good fish. This message should go to the people and if they don't eat fish that will be worst than the tsunami." 3.12 10. VARIOUS: OF FISH BEEN STORED IN COOL ROOMS. (3 SHOTS) 3.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 22nd January 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: COLOMBO AND HIKKADUWA, SRI LANKA
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Reuters ID: LVACHEPZG9LY26T3P65TTOI14KDL
  • Story Text: Sri Lankan fishermen return to work.



    Sri Lanka's fish markets are struggling to recover
    after fishing villages on the country's coast were
    flattened by a tsunami that killed almost 150,000 in South
    Asia and Africa.

    Sri Lanka's staple diet constitutes mainly of fish, and
    the country's fish markets are responsible for a major
    portion of the national income. Tuna is exported to Japan
    and the West.

    Since the tsunami hit, Colombo's fish market is running
    low on stock.

    "There is no fish now because there are no boats. After
    the 26th there are no fish because boats have been
    destroyed or damaged," said fish seller Pradeep.

    The tsunami waves killed more than 30,000 in Sri Lanka
    and injured more than 16,000. In fishing villages along
    the southern and eastern coasts, boats lie snapped in half
    near destroyed houses.

    A humble fishing village on the coastal road to Galle,
    the strip of beach called Hikkaduwa, was destroyed along
    with scores of others by the giant deadly tsunami.

    Fisherman G.D.Piyadasa's boat is back in the water but
    he still can not fish. The nets that he was using were
    destroyed. Piyadasa says he has no other way to earn a living.

    "We in the fishing industry made a living and were not
    dependent on anybody. Now people have fallen to desperate
    levels. There are people who don't have anything to wear,"
    he said. Ten of Sri Lanka's 12 fishing ports are likely to
    require technical cooperation after irrigation facilities
    and processing plants were damaged by the tsunami.

    Although efforts are underway to mend nets, fix boats
    and rebuild villages, another problem faces the fishing
    industry - Many Sri Lankans are afraid to eat fish fearing
    contamination from corpses floating in the sea.

    The top administrator at the Sri Lankan Ministry for
    fisheries, Nandasenage Bamarawanage, says it could cause
    havoc in the industry.

    "It will be the second tsunami if people don't eat
    fish. Within the next couple of weeks, the people will
    bring in more fish, tuna, and especially tuna varieties
    don't eat carcasses, the corpses. If it is alive, the
    killer sharks may try to attack you and eat but small fish,
    especially, artisanal fishermen they don't go to sea now.

    It's only multi-day boats will bring in tuna variety fish,
    they don't eat humans. It's perfectly 100 percent safe fish
    so there's nothing to worry about but the quality is not
    contaminated it's good fish. This message should go to the
    people and if they don't eat fish that will be worst than
    the tsunami," he said.

    On Tuesday (January 4) the Hong Kong government also
    asked seafood traders to temporarily suspend imports of
    seafood from South Asian countries, saying fish might have
    ingested heavy metals churned up form the seabed by the
    seismic movements on December 26.

    President Chandrika Kumaratunga has announced plans to
    turn coastal areas into a conservation zone, and ban
    further building by the sea.




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