India, Lanka fishermen shift focus to deep sea

Shift of focus on deep sea marine resources and phasing out “bottom-trawling” at Palk Strait have emerged as keys to resolving the fishing conflict between India and Sri Lanka.

A meeting between representatives of fisher-folks of India and Sri Lanka in Chennai last Tuesday saw both sides agreeing to consider focusing more on deep sea fishing as marine resources depleted in waters between the two nations due to excessive use of mechanized bottom-trawlers.

“The focus of the suggestions made by the Indian side is to try and see in the interim if it would be possible to work out a via media where there could be environmentally sustainable fishing which would be a win-win situation for both sides,” said the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin. The MEA has been playing a key role in arranging the meetings between Indian and Sri Lanka fishermen to end the conflict.