National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation (NAFSO) emergency relief drive for fishing communities hit by the X-Press Pearl disaster:

//Announcement: Donations are now being matched!

Fidem Financial (https://fidemfinance.ca/), a US-based financial firm, has generously offered to match donations from this point until we meet the target (the amount raised currently stands at $9,135), meaning every new donation will essentially be doubled. Additional funds will allow NAFSO to support more households than the 200 originally identified, increasing geographic reach to more towns/villages along the coast.//

The X-Press Pearl disaster has devastating repercussions for fishing communities on Sri Lanka’s west coast. Already financially distressed by the Covid-19 lockdowns and closure of markets, fishers in the 80km stretch between Wennappuwa and Panadura have now been banned from going to sea over credible fears that marine life in those areas have been tainted by the ship’s pollutants. Even under normal conditions, fishers face extremely high physical risks, grueling working conditions, and few protections against losses, all for modest income, resulting in protracted and inter-generational poverty traps and leaving them extremely vulnerable to shocks such as this. Work is ongoing to model and assess the magnitude of the impacts.

 

Whom the funds will go to:

The average income for women who work in and around the small-scale fisheries industry is $150 USD/month (30,000 LKR) or $5 USD per day. It is they who have been worst affected by the disaster, and on whom this drive will focus. This is partly because their work is by nature informal, and they are not eligible for registration with a state organisation, and therefore will not fall within any relief packages to be issued by the government.

Beneficiaries include:

• Women who work as fish vendors (small scale buying and selling)
• Women engaged in post-harvest work, such as producing dried fish
• Single mothers and those operating women-led households
• Women with unusually challenging family situations

Breakdown of how funds will be disbursed: 
At present, calculations are as below, broken down by households, per month:

Single persons -->  10  households --> 1,500 lkr/household = 15,000 lkr
Two persons --> 20  households --> 3,000 lkr/household = 60,000 lkr
Three persons --> 120  households --> 4,500 lkr/household = 540,000 lkr
Four persons and above --> 50  households --> 6,000 lkr/household = 300,000 lkr
TOTAL per month= 915,000 lkr
TOTAL for 3 months = x*3= 2,745,000 lkr
In dollars = 13,674 usd

The 200 beneficiaries (households) have already been identified by the National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation (NAFSO). Those 200 women support 450 further people in their respective households. NAFSO will receive, distribute, and account for all funds, providing regular updates to donors. Updates on the distribution of funds will be posted here on GFM, and sent out via messages to all those who contributed. NAFSO will maintain receipts, and where relevant, photographic evidence, and these will be readily available to all parties on request. Please drop us a note if any further information is needed. 

Funds from this campaign will be personally withdrawn by Madu Selvakumar and transferred in total to NAFSO accounts at Commercial Bank via direct wire-- the sender will manage transmitting costs.

NAFSO is located in Negombo and has worked for almost 30 years to promote human rights and sustainable development in the fisheries sector, with a particular focus on marginalised groups such as internally-displaced persons, women, and youth. In recognition of its advocacy work,  NAFSO received the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Margarita Lizarraga Award in 1996.  

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Background on the X-Press Pearl disaster:

On May 20, the X-Press Pearl - a container ship belonging to one of the biggest operators in the world - caught fire while in anchorage off the west coast of Sri Lanka. Over the next 12 days, while navy and coastguard crews battled the flames, it spilled vast amounts of pollutants into the ocean, including tons of nitric acid, but more devastatingly, containerfuls of tiny plastic pellets from which polythene bags and other plastic goods are made.

These pellets have been washing up in their billions, repeatedly covering entire beaches as large-scale cleanup efforts attempt to clear beaches daily. As the pellets are easily swallowed by all manner of marine life, there have been reports not just of dead fish washing ashore with the pellets in their mouths, gills and stomachs, but also of turtle and moray eel carcasses being found in unusually high numbers along this coastline. Severe damage is believed to have been caused to reefs and ecosystems. Although for now the ship’s roughly 350 tonnes of bunker oil are contained in the hull (which has now mostly sunk to the seabed), there are fears a breached hull could lead to an oil spill that would profoundly worsen the situation.

A link to Dr. Asha de Vos's summary of current conditions, here:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPqa25RBj06/?utm_medium=copy_link