09/14/2005

The December 26 tsunami destroyed Sri Lanka's fishing industry. With so many fishermen affected, the fishing industry has been the priority sector for economic revitalization. Refugees International found during its assessment mission 9 months after the tsunami, that the basic approach has been to supply boats in such numbers that RI was told by an NGO official that 120% of the pre-tsunami fishing fleet had been restored. “A lot of the boats that were sent were inappropriate,” a government official told RI, “some were too big; the fishermen need boats that can’t be capsized by crocodiles in the lagoon.” In the course of RI’s travel to the southern and eastern coastline, anomalies abounded: we were told of some fishermen getting six boats and selling them off, yet most fishermen we spoke to had yet to receive a single boat; some fishermen have boats, but no nets or motors. A common sight in NGO compounds throughout the country is a stack of boats waiting to be distributed.