has kept fishermen moored at Negombo harbour, out of gas and unable to reel in the day's catch.
"If we queue up by five in the morning, then we will get fuel by three in the afternoon, on good days," Mr Arulanandan, a seasoned member of Negombo's close-knit fishing community, tells AFP. Their ships are equipped to go deep into international waters for weeks at a time but the shortages have prevented most from setting sail.
"When I can't bring money home, my children ask me, 'Why are you not feeding me?'" Mr Arulanandan says."But they don't understand the problems we are going through." "The buyers come from far away, and because of diesel and petrol shortages, they haven't shown up," says Mr Mohammed Asneer, a young shrimp vendor."Our sales have gone down and our expenses have gone up."Mr Asneer grows exasperated while bemoaning his straitened circumstances and says he would seize any opportunity to leave for abroad.
"Now everything is expensive - for us it's very difficult to do business," says Ms K.W. Shiromi, the owner of Mama's Place seafood restaurant in the bucolic southern coastal town of Weligama.