Choppy waters

It is unfortunate that Sri Lanka has failed to act in addressing India’s concerns over the fate of its fishermen.

Around 114 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and 21 boats are said to be in Sri Lankan custody. Although India has repeatedly raised the issue with the Lankan government, even at the highest level, Colombo has been dragging its feet.

As a result, the fishermen are languishing in jail. Issues of lives and livelihood are involved and emotions are running high. It is on humanitarian grounds that India has been calling on Colombo to release the fishermen. Exasperated with Colombo’s reluctance to do so, India has upped the ante by serving the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Delhi with a demarche. The island nation’s argument is that Indian fishermen are poaching in its waters and depriving its fishermen of their catch and livelihood. The Indian government and the fishermen need to admit this instead of blaming the Sri Lankan Navy for ‘targeting them.’

However, nowhere in the world do fishermen feel restrained by international borders. In the sea, it is impossible to figure out where maritime borders lie. Trans-border fishing is thus inevitable and Colombo needs to take a reasonable approach to this problem. Sadly, it has chosen to use extreme force, including torture and killing of fishermen who enter its waters.

Underlying the conflict is the unsustainable fishing methods practised by Indian fishermen, which the Indian government encouraged for decades through extension of subsidies for purchase of trawlers. Depletion of catch along the Indian coast has forced fishermen to move further deep into the seas. Unlike India, Lanka enforced the ban on deep water trawling and protected its environment better. Hence, the anger over Indian fishermen trawling its waters.

Instead of indulging in shrill rhetoric, the Tamil Nadu government must enforce a ban on deep trawling and help fishermen switch to sustainable fishing. Sadly, successive governments here have bowed to the powerful trawler lobby instead of addressing the problems of smaller fishermen.

Experts are calling for the creation of a Palk Bay Authority consisting of fishermen, environmentalists etc from both sides of the Palk Strait. Through dialogue they could decide on permissible fishing equipment, how much fishing is sustainable and allocate fishing days to fishermen from the two countries. This will reduce the conflict.