It is a pick up screen. All this does is stop the bigger chunks of garbage floating in your tank from being pulled into the lines. I've seen a few of them in older 70's Chrysler/Mitsubishi cars but never seen one that has ended up looking that bad. This should be the part or at least get you looking in the right direction -

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fuel-Filt...3D351733161308