Local knowledge ensures a bright future

CAFOD partner, Father Sri, Director of Caritas EHED in Sri Lanka. [Noel Gavin]

Father Sri talks about the challenges faced by Caritas EHED in helping fishing communities in eastern Sri Lanka restore their way of life after the tsunami

Father Sritharan Sylvester is the director of Caritas EHED, CAFOD’s partner in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka.

EHED is helping fishing communities to restore their way of life and explains how the approach of working through local people seeks to ensure fisher folk have a sustainable future.

What are the main challenges in the fisheries industry?

In the days following the tsunami, the main challenge was assessing the number of boats and fishing equipment that had been damaged or destroyed.

There was a concern that some organisations had placed too many orders so we decided to wait and see in order to avoid duplication. We started assessing needs in May 2005 when most boats had already been delivered by other aid agencies.

There were also problems co-ordinating with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and local government authorities as many fisher folk were not officially registered.

Therefore, government lists did not reflect the reality of losses on the ground. For the first six months, EHED worked on collecting and verifying information.

Additionally, the eastern region is war-torn. Frequent outbursts of violence since the November 2005 elections have affected post-tsunami reconstruction. EHED in Batticaloa is working with all communities and is assessing the situation day-by-day.

Why are boats left unused on the shores?

Recent reports on tsunami reconstruction state that the number of boats in Batticaloa now exceeds pre-tsunami levels. However, the situation is more complex.

We have been working with the communities for many years and our field workers are often members of these communities and a great source of grassroots information. They say the problem is misdistribution, rather than the oversupply of boats.

EHED distributes boats together with nets and engines because it allows fisher folk to go out to sea immediately. This integrated approach is not common practice.

In addition, the surge in demand for engines and nets of all types causes shortages and delays, which explains why some boats are still on the coast.

What is Caritas doing to prevent overfishing?

EHED has experience and expertise in providing relief assistance and restoring assets, beginning with the 1978 cyclone and then later in 1983 when civil war erupted.

We rely heavily on our experienced community workers who, as accurately as possible, collect, assess, and address needs at the grassroots level.

We are also very keen on co-ordinating with the FAO advisers, local fishery departments, and other charitable organisations, with whom we regularly meet in order to share and cross-check information.

Moreover, when providing nets we take regional habits into consideration. We have distributed prawn nets together with petromax lamps, which allow prawn fishermen to return to the lagoon and fish at night.

What other environmental issues have you tackled?

A political decision was taken following the tsunami to set up a no-construction buffer zone along the coast. The EHED programme decided to replant coconut trees in the Ampara district along an eight-kilometre coastal strip.

The buffer zone policy was later changed and we had to consider removing the trees. However, beneficiaries, whose permanent houses were to be rebuilt on that strip, said they would be happy to keep the trees.

In terms of fisheries, we want to increase collaboration with fishing societies. Working through organised local groups strengthens fishing communities and promotes sustainable development, ensuring that the benefits to the communities will be long-term.

We are also planning to focus on organic agriculture, distributing seeds to allow for new diversified crops.

These livelihood programmes are fully integrated with our permanent shelter reconstruction projects. We work with entire villages and make efforts to rehabilitate their means of making a living as well as their habitat, in the hope of making them less vulnerable to future disasters.

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