 Venturing to sea prohibited By Sarah Hannan The Meteorology Department forecasts that the sea areas around the island, extending from Puttalam to Trincomalee via Colombo, Galle, Hambantota, and Pottuvil, can get rough. Winds will be south-westerly in the sea area around the island. Wind speed will be 50-55 kmph. Wind speed can increase up to 70-80 kmph at times in the sea area extending from Puttalam to Pottuvil via Colombo, Galle, and Hambantota. With fishermen asked not to go to sea during the coming days, many will lose their daily earnings. Many who disregard the warnings are most often faced with life-threatening consequences. “The day-catch boats venture into the sea despite warnings and in an unfortunate turn of events, such a boat capsized in Payagala on Monday (18), claiming two lives and injuring one person. We have issued a blanket warning for all sea areas and request that fishermen do not go to sea until this super cyclone moves away,” Department of Fisheries Development Division Director H.J.M. Nihal Palitha said. Speaking to The Morning, Tyronne Mendis, a fisherman from Negombo, said: “Most of the multiday trawlers and vessels will not be affected by this weather as they are already in deep seas fishing in international waters. However, it is the fishermen who earn a living through their daily catch that suffer the most. They do not heed warnings most of the time.” Mendis also said that multiday trawlers generally venture into the sea for 10-14 days at a stretch, and there were several vessels that have still not come back. He elaborated that these vessels sail to international waters adjacent to the Maldives and Somalia. In the meantime, following warnings issued by the Department of Meteorology on 15 May, many multiday vessels that had set out to sea recently were radioed to return to land as the storms were getting stronger. One hundred such multiday trawlers had returned by Monday (18), according to Beruwala Fisheries Port Manager Edward Dayamal. Two fishermen from Kammalthurai in Negombo were reported missing after they went to sea disregarding the warnings issued by the Department of Fisheries. The two had set out to sea in the early hours of Monday (18), and had not returned till last (19) afternoon. According to an official at the Negombo Fisheries Office, a rescue operation was afoot while a rescue helicopter too was about to be deployed to locate the two missing fishermen when, fortunately, another group of fishermen had spotted the missing boat and brought them back to land. It is said that their boat was stranded in mid-sea due to technical difficulties.