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Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters: Decades on, still fishing for solutions

30 Oct 2021

By Skandha Gunasekara While the decades-old problem of Indian trawlers encroaching in Sri Lankan waters is both a community issue as well as a national issue, it seems to have no end in sight, with neither government having taken any conclusive steps to resolve it. Although Indian fishermen had been poaching in Sri Lankan waters for decades past, the matter was compounded with the introduction of trawler boats and the advent of bottom trawling. Bottom trawling is the practice of trawler boats using mechanised nets attached to long arms to drag the nets along the bottom of the seabed. This method, in addition to contributing to overfishing and the depletion of fish stocks, causes serious environmental damage – in some cases, irreparable damage. Earlier this month, a protest was carried out by a large number of fisherfolk along with members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), where some 100-odd boats travelled to, Point Pedro, the northernmost of Sri Lankan waters, holding placards calling for the end to bottom trawling and the encroachment into Sri Lankan waters by Indian fisherman. However, the success of this protest in stopping Indian poaching was short-lived, as those living in the region as well as those familiar with the issue asserted that encroachment still goes on, and that too in large numbers. A prolonged issue Mannar Fisheries Co-operative Association Union Secretary N.M. Aalam charged that Indian fishing trawlers were still invading Sri Lankan waters. He stated: “It is really hard for the fisherfolk to earn a living. There was a decrease in 2017/18. The then Government passed laws and took some commendable steps and the encroachment stopped to a large degree, but after the new Government came to power, it restarted. “The issue is that bottom trawling as a practice must be stopped. It happens the most in Mannar and the North. Around 500 boats come each day. If this happened in Puttalam or Negombo, the Government would take action.” He charged that the Navy was failing in its duties, adding: “They (poachers) still come. There was a protest, and the Indian High Commissioner also visited the region. Following that, there was a lull for a few days where they didn’t encroach in our waters. But now, they are back in large numbers.” According to University of Jaffna Senior Lecturer Dr. Ahilan Kadirgamar, the issue was brought under control to a significant level during the time of the Yahapalana Government. Dr. Kadirgamar explained: “While this problem has been around for almost 20 years, it became a serious concern after the war in particular, when our northern fisherfolk were also finally allowed to go back to sea. Then, they found that every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, the Indian trawlers would poach in our waters. (It happened on) those specific days because there was an agreement between Indian small-scale fishers and trawlers on which days they would fish in Indian waters. So, on those days, when our fishermen put their gill nets that float in the sea, these bottom trawlers, which are far more powerful boats, came and ripped the nets; it caused huge problems. “This led to various talks between the fishing communities first and also state-level talks, but the situation was never completely addressed. The closest we came to addressing this was towards the end of 2016 when, for the first time, there were ministerial-level talks between India and Sri Lanka on this issue. So, the two Foreign Ministers and the two Fisheries Ministers of both countries met in Delhi and created a joint working group with the idea that bottom trawling should end. Over the next year, there were also changes here legally to ban bottom trawling and to arrest poachers from India. While that didn’t solve the situation, it was reduced to a large extent in 2017 and 2018.” While noting that the pandemic contributed to the lapse in the enforcement of the laws in place, Dr. Kadirgamar pointed out that the failure of successive governments to continue successful policies was also a major factor. He said: “By 2020, with the Covid crisis, the deterrents, in terms of arrests by the Navy, had reduced. There were also concerns that the arrests could lead to the spread of Covid. So, over the last year and a half, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of trawlers poaching in our waters, and it is affecting the fishing community in a very bad way. Additionally, the poachers come from different towns in India, which means they don’t just come on three days anymore – they come almost every day now. “Unfortunately, what seems to happen is that every time there is a change of government here, there is no continuity in policy. We seem to be reinventing the wheel and starting from zero. As I said, in 2016 and 2017, there were great advances to address this, but that did not continue after the change of Government in 2019. Now, the fishing community is quite desperate that this problem be addressed, but we seem to be starting from scratch again.” He said that while deterrents were effective to a certain extent, the core issue was the practice of bottom trawling, adding that solutions would be found only in stopping such practices in Sri Lankan waters. “There is probably a lack of direction from the state hierarchy when it comes to the Navy’s inaction concerning the matter. While it is one important way of addressing this, you also need pressures from other levels; diplomatic pressures to try to convince Tamil Nadu to decommission these trawlers,” Dr. Kadirgamar said. “About five years ago, there was an initiative by the Indian Government, including the central government, to buy back some of these trawlers and decommission them. Ultimately, the issue is the existence of these bottom trawlers, which doesn’t serve anybody because it is so environmentally damaging – it basically entails scooping the bottom of the seabed. So, the only way to address it in the long term is to ensure that these Indian trawlers are converted into deep-sea fishing boats,” he added. Dr. Kardigamar pointed out that such a move would require interventions at the state level and that government-to-government talks as well as bipartisan support would be essential. He went on to explain: “A focus in terms of negotiations and a roadmap is required to address this. These are the kinds of things that were decided towards the end of 2016 when those talks happened; there was follow through for about a year or two only. Continuous engagement to find a solution does not happen. “Additionally, the Indian trawling problem also gets caught in the web of diplomatic issues between Sri Lanka and India, as opposed to it being seen as a separate issue. We’ve seen this in the past as well where successive governments don’t want to be too diligent because if there are any incidents at sea, that also creates backlash politically in India. “So, a multipronged strategy is needed to address this, but that requires political will and there needs to be a bipartisan consensus here, on the Sri Lankan side, to take this forward. Pressure from the Central Government on Delhi is needed to make sure this issue is addressed; negotiations need to happen to keep the spotlight on the issue. “We need our Tamil politicians to put pressure on Tamil Nadu. They need to ask how this community of fishers who have been through the worst in terms of the civil war can be made to face this for the profits of trawler owners. Unfortunately, what we are seeing now is a kind of blame game and a lack of political will to address this.” He said that while the Tamil political parties had not addressed the issue early on, the last few years saw some positive moves, particularly by the TNA. He said: “Historically also, they had neglected this issue from 2009 to 2015/16. For example, when the previous provincial council was in session, they rarely spoke about this issue and just washed their hands off this. And at the time, arguably even the Tamil intelligentsia did not show much interest. But in 2015, there was a shift when in February that year, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Sri Lanka and the TNA – particularly R. Sampanthan – took it up with India for the first time and said that this was an issue of serious concern. “Following that, I think in May that same year, the President at the time, Maithripala Sirisena, convened a meeting of all different agencies of the State and the TNA, and had a discussion about how to address this. At the time, a lot of the Tamil politicians also got involved in trying to find a solution. That was a kind of bipartisan approach. What we are now seeing at the current moment is a lack of consensus and a kind of blame game on all sides, a kind of one-upmanship, as opposed to all parties trying to figure out how we are going to address this issue faced by our fisherfolk.” Pleas ignored? Nevertheless, Tamil Opposition parties were adamant that they were doing their utmost to address this issue. “I’m the one who led the protest at sea with about 200 boats, and since then, there has been no invasion into our seas by the trawlers. The day after the protest, there was one trawler, which the Navy tried to chase, and it sank, and one fisherman died and two were arrested. After that, there has not been a single trawler,” TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran told The Sunday Morning. With regard to bipartisan action within the legislature, Sumanthiran pointed to the reformative legislation brought by them in 2017 to ban bottom trawling in Sri Lankan waters and said that they would continue to play a role in ensuring that the plight of the northern fisherman did not fall on deaf ears. “We are the ones who brought the law. I’m the one who brought the private members’ bill in Parliament to ban trawlers, and it was finally passed (in 2017). Non-implementation by the fisheries authorities is what led to these trawlers coming back like this. When the law was passed, they (trawlers) stopped coming, but once they realised the law wasn’t being enforced, they started coming again. This caused a huge problem in recent times, so we did this novel protest in the sea and after that, no one came. We will be keeping an eye on this matter in the future as well,” he said. When The Sunday Morning reached out to the Navy to inquire as to why there had been a lapse in enforcing the legislation, the Navy responded that it was taking necessary action. “We are taking all necessary measures required as and when needed. We take the required measures in accordance with the situation we face,” Navy Spokesman Capt. Indika Silva said. Despite the issue being of national importance, neither Minister for Fisheries Douglas Devananda nor State Minister for Fisheries Kanchana Wijesekera were available to comment on the measures the Government hopes to take to bring a conclusive end to the problem.

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