Live Discussion : X- Press Pearl: Environmental crisis and effects on livelihood of fishing community
Published
(Highlights from the Live Discussion held on 07th June 2021 organized by the People’s Alliance fore Right to Land)
Speakers:
1. Hemantha Withange (Executive Director – Centre for Environmental Justice)
2. Francis Priyankara Costa. ( National Fisheries Solidarity Movement , People’s land Commission Member)
3. Piyarina Nilanthi ( Fisher women)
4. Lakshman Fernando ( Fisherman)
5. Sebestian Suresh ( Small Scale Fisherman)
Hemantha Withange (Executive Director – Centre for Environmental Justice)
Hemantha Vithanage mentioned that he filed an RTI application and received the information on contents in the containers of the sinking ship. That information raised many serious concerns regarding the ship. The information revealed that many hazardous chemicals such as nitric acid, methanol, sodium methoxide copper, lithium iron battery and polyethylene are in the containers.
Government should look into the livelihood issues of the fishing community- There are possibilities that the fishes which we will buy after 5 years can be poisonous fishes. It is not possible to identify the fishes which have eaten these chemicals. Therefore fishermen can’t identify the fishes which are good for consumption. This will affect their fishing and selling. There is a variety of polythene inside the containers. It will take 500- 1000 years to demolish. These will severely impact the environment.
A Fundamental Rights application was filed with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka seeking an order be made on Ports & Shipping Minister and relevant officials, to conduct a special investigation on how the sinking X-Press Pearl container ship entered Sri Lankan waters. Myself on behalf of Center for Environmental Justice and several fishermen filled the FR application. Sri Lanka is a signatory party to the The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Therefore there are chances to seek remedies under this convention.
"Instead of letting them do to fishing, the government should intervene and set up a source of income for the fishermen to help them survive"
“We had to pay a heavy price to save the ship's crew. These costs are more serious than we think. We had a country with a clean coastline. Tourists come to Sri Lanka to see a clean beach . Eat clean food. Fish, prawns, crabs. When all this is lost, there will be a huge long term loss”