The dispute over fishing in the Palk Straits between Sri Lankan fishermen from the Northern Province and Indian fishermen from the Southern tip of India remains an unresolved problem. This is despite former fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda and present fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekaran both Tamils, of Indian origin, being familiar with the Indian politicians.
A few days ago, former Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda warned about Indian fishing trawlers which were expected to enter Sri Lanka’s territorial waters in the North, during the fish breeding season which begins in April and ends in the middle part of June.
During this breeding period, fishermen refrain from fishing in the Palk Straits as well as the ocean area in Lankan territorial waters for bigger harvest from the sea.
During his tenure as Minister of Fisheries in the past, Douglas Devananda initiated efforts to resolve the fishing issues in the Palk Straits. He met representatives of the fishing communities from South India as well as from the Jaffna Peninsula. Meetings were even held during the Katchchativu festival season when fisher folk from both countries gather in a big way. The deity of Katchchativu, St. Anthony is considered as the guardian angel of the fisher folk.
However, efforts taken to reach an amicable settlement between the fisher communities of both countries did not produce any positive result.
Similarly, Devananda’s talks with South Indian politicians and even with Indian central Government leaders on resolving the issue were unfruitful.
According to fishing community leaders from the Northern Province, Indian fishermen enter the Northern waters with their powerful trawler vessels which not only net fish extensively, but also damage the breeding sites of the area. Sri Lanka’s Northern fisher folk with their traditional motorised fishing vessels find it difficult to sustain their fishing in the Northern waters.
The Navy spokesperson has announced a total of 98 Indian fishermen and 28 boats are currently in Lankan custody for infiltrating into Lankan waters. This is after some 170 Indian fishermen were freed last week.
The Palk Straits, a 15,000 sq. km waterway that connects India and Sri Lanka has been an essential source of livelihood for fishing communities on both sides. Presently, however, it is home to a broader dispute between the two nations, emerging from the frequent encroaching of Indian trawlers into Sri Lankan waters and the island of Kachchatheevu, as well as the environmental implications of trawling on the Palk Bay’s biodiversity.
Indian fishermen encroach into Sri Lankan waters for several reasons including overfishing on the Indian side, the large number of Indian fishermen, as well as the fact that, during the Civil War, Indian fishermen faced little competition to fish in Palk Bay waters.
Furthermore, the international boundary line is 11.5 nautical miles from Rameswaram, India and 34.4 nautical miles from Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
The 1974 Maritime Boundary Agreement ceded the island of Kachchatheevu to Sri Lanka and also agreed to the current formulation of boundaries in the historic waters of the Palk Straits. It subsequently also allowed Indian fishermen to continue their traditional rights over fishing in and around Kachchatheevu, which were later taken away with the 1976 Maritime Boundary Agreements.
Fishermen have consistently claimed that they were excluded in the consulting process of these agreements. Various politicians in Tamil Nadu, most notably former Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha, filed petitions against these agreements. Local politicians demand the abrogation of the Boundary Line Agreement to encourage Indian fishermen to fish in Sri Lankan waters.
However, Lankan fisher folk backed by the Sri Lankan Navy guarding Lankan territorial waters, emphasise that the Indian fishermen should be kept away from Lankan territorial waters.
