India- Sri Lanka Fishermen Issue
Recently, the Sri Lankan Navy has seized eight Indian fishing vessels and arrested 55 fishermen on the charge of poaching.
Context
Recently, the Sri Lankan Navy has seized eight Indian fishing vessels and arrested 55 fishermen on the charge of poaching.
- The arrests were made in seas South of Mannar in the Sri Lankan waters.
What is the issue?
- As in the past, fishermen from Rameshwaram and nearby coasts continue to sail towards Talaimannar and Katchatheevu coasts, a region famous for rich maritime resources in Sri Lanka.
- Indian boats have been fishing in the troubled waters for centuries and had a free run of the Bay of Bengal, the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar until 1974 and 1976.
- Treaties were later signed between the two countries to demarcate the maritime boundary — the ‘International Maritime Boundary Line'(IMBL).
Background
- The Palk Bay area has been used by both Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen for centuries. However, problems emerged after the India-Sri Lanka only after 1974 and 1976.
- The 1974 agreement did not substantially affect fishing though India had ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka out of goodwill gesture.
- But in 1976 via an exchange of letters, both the countries stopped fishing into each other's waters. However, since fishermen know no boundary.
- The agreement could not stop the fishermen from fishing in these waters, because they ignore the boundaries and go wherever they can get the maximum number of catches.
- Thus, knowingly or unknowingly, the International Maritime Boundary Line is violated, often resulting in arrests of Indian / Sri Lankan fishermen or shootouts.
- Despite the signing of maritime boundary agreements, fishermen communities of both the countries continued their fishing in the Palk Bay area peacefully until the Eelam war broke out in 1983.
- Nonetheless, after the end of War in 2009, the Sri Lankan fishermen have been raising their objection to Indian fishermen fishing in their waters.
