Photo Credit: Refugees International/Eugene Carlson
01/09/2005

The tsunami demolished houses, derailed trains, and destroyed 80 percent of Sri Lanka’s fishing boats. With the damage to the fishing fleet, 170,000 fishermen are unemployed, and a key source of nutrition has been lost. Ten of the nation’s 12 major fishing harbors were destroyed by the tsunami. And coastal estuary sites, where shrimp and small fish were farmed, have silted up and are lost as a fishing resource. Restoring the fishing industry requires major new investments in nets, boats, harbors, and storage and transportation facilities.