Events & Issues

17 March 2015, New Delhi

Fishermen Issue

EMBEDDED, BEGS SOLUTION

By Syed Ali Mujtaba

The burgeoning problem of fishing in the Palk bay has been a sore point between India and Sri Lanka for a long time. The issue has Tamil Nadu specific angle as 12 of its coastal districts are directly involved with this problem. As there are social and political compulsions, the State prevents New Delhi to take a decisive stand on this issue. 

The last news that was heard on this was from the outgoing UPA government that announced that India and Sri Lanka is close to clinching an agreement on drawing a fishing boundary in the Palk Strait and that would put an end to recurring attacks on fishermen from both sides. The proposed agreement was announced to be in final stages. After that there was nothing that was officially added on this issue. 

Meanwhile, the new Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, had visited New Delhi and had several agreements signed, but none pertained to the problem of addressing the fishing community in the Palk Bay.

Now, Prime Minister Narandra Modi visited Sri Lanka and has travelled to Jaffna, and said to have a fresh assessment of the problem and after that everyone expected a statement from him on this issse but nothing tangible has come out that may give hope to address this problem.

There are many solutions proposed to end the tension among the fishing community in the Palk Bay but so far none has addressed the root cause. The villain in the piece is the prevalence of large number of Indian trawlers operating in the narrow strip of water that comes in clash with the Sri Lankan navy.

The genesis of the problem can be traced back to the 1960s, when as part of an Indo- Norwegian project Indian government emphasized to use capital-intensive technology for fishing and extended support and subsidies to encourage the use of trawlers.

This shift from traditional fishing to a capital-intensive fishing industry focused on export- oriented fishing but soon it was realized that its negative impact over weighs its benefits. It was found that trawlers impact on the marine life was devastating. They use heavy-bottomed nets which are dragged through the sea bed, trapping all marine life in their way, including fish eggs which results in over- exploitation of the fish resources and speedy depletion of marine resources.

The destructive impact on marine resources was visible within a few years of the introduction of trawlers. It was reported that up to the mid-1970s, there was an increase in fish landings but after that fluctuations in overall fish catches were felt and finally a steady decline set in. According to a date there was almost 50% drop in productivity seen in the period 1975 to 1980.

As a result of such findings, the use of deep trawling nets in fishing was banned in the mid-1980s. However, the practice of trawler fishing continues to this day. The problem has assumed serious proportion with the depletion of the fishes along the Indian coast that drives the Indian trawlers to cross the maritime border and enter Sri Lankan waters. They confront Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen, who see it as an assault on their livelihood and confront them with the help of Sri Lankan navy.     

The trawler issue is a complex one. Most of the trawlers from Tamil Nadu are owned by merchant capitalists that are from non-fishing community who are politically influential and financially sound. This class of new fishermen, who have flourished because of mechanization, have assumed a mafia-like character, who wield great influence over Tamil Nadu politics and no government has been successful in eliminating them.

In fact, the Planning Commission in its 11th Five Year Plan included a provision for reducing trawlers fleet but these continue to operate thanks to the political patronage they enjoy from political parties in Tamil Nadu. 

The issue also has electoral dimension. There are 12 coastal districts of Tamil Nadu that have an impact of this issue. Due to fear of losing votes, no government likes to antagonize the trawler lobby. Therefore, no firm action is taken against them. Even though there is immense pressure from New Delhi no decisive action against the trawlers has been taken by the successive Tamil Nadu governments. Each had preferred to live with the problem.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka also has its own domestic political compulsions. After the end of Elam war, the government wants to give a big boost to fishery in the northern areas that were ravaged by the war. They are encouraging the northern region fishermen to fish in there and are giving them loans to buy fishing equipments. 

The solution to the problem rests entirely with Tamil Nadu and India. If it wants to preserve marine resources and provide enough sustenance to the marginal fishermen, the most effective solution would be to reduce the fleet of the trawler in the Palk bay. However, this is something that’s better said than done. A complete phasing out is a difficult task. Some alternative arrangements like encouraging these large trawlers to venture into high seas in the India’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs) rather into territorial waters of Sri Lanka can be considered. The other option could be to use these trawlers for patrolling purposes rather than fishing as there is shortage of patrol boats from the Indian side. 

The bottomline is that the two sides have to find a way of sharing the fish resources amicably and for this an understanding between the fishing community and respective governments has to be vetted and sealed. 

In fact to address the issue, a joint working group was set up way back in 2006 but it has still not come up with a formal joint-management system! The main reason is lack of patronage from the government and the group only comes into the picture when temperatures reach boiling point.

It is not that nothing has been achieved so far. In one of such meetings of JWG, Sri Lankan fishermen said they are not opposed to traditional fishermen from Tamil Nadu entering their waters; but their main grouse was against Indian mechanized trawlers. To this, the Indian side gave an assurance that they are ready for reducing the fleet of trawlers. In spite of openness in the talk, the issue got entangled in political compulsions and no reduction of trawlers has ever happened.

The problem of the fishing community in the Palk bay can be solved if the fishermen on both sides agree to the solutions. They need to reach an understanding about boundary crossing, especially by small boats that is inevitable and more precisely about the operation of the mechanized trawlers that has to be completely banned. However, any such agreement has to be vetted by Colombo and Northern provinces from the Sri Lanka side, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi from the Indian side, along with the fishing community of both the sides. Sooner, the better. ----INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)