Why Sri Lanka’s artificial reef plan for fish breeding is ‘toxic’ in India

Sri Lanka’s recent initiative to create artificial reefs for breeding has riled Tamil Nadu fishers. The experts from India also called the move 'irresponsible'.

• A recent Sri Lankan government initiative to dump discarded buses into chosen spots in the sea, to help create artificial reefs for fish breeding has come under criticism from across the Palk Strait.
• Fishers and experts in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu have dubbed the initiative as ‘disastrous’, ‘unlawful’, and ‘irresponsible’.
• The low-intensity row began earlier this month, when the Sri Lankan government, with the help of its navy, dumped close to 20 discarded buses off the waters of the Deft Island, called Needuntheevu in Tamil, declaring that it would help fish breeding and restore the fast depleting marine life.

What is an artificial reef?

• An artificial reef is a manmade structure that may mimic some of the characteristics of a natural reef.
• It is a human-made underwater structure that substitutes as a natural reef to form a habitat for marine life.
• Artificial reefs are placed in areas where there is little bottom topography or near coral reefs to attract marine populations.
• These structures are made from a variety of materials including shipwrecks, construction debris, oil rigs, concrete, and any other man-made objects.

• Negative impact on fishing industry: The buses would drift underwater into India’s territorial waters affecting fishing industry.
  • The Tamil Nadu fishers say that their large and costly trawl nets could get caught in the dumped buses and get destroyed. 

• Affected trade: They further claimed that the practice would affect the trade and consumers alike in the coming months and years, thus, adding a new dimension to the intractable ‘fishers issue’ involving the two nations.
• Against the agreement: They also call the move against India–Sri Lanka maritime boundary agreements (1974 - 1976). 
• Harmful to marine life: Debris of the kind could add toxicity to the marine life in the region.

• The drifting of unsupported objects under the water, due to ocean currents is a real phenomenon.
  • For example: The drifting of debris of the aeroplane MH 370, which crashed in 2014, is an example of drifting induced by ocean currents. The debris drifted for hundreds of kilometres.
• Natural disasters like tsunamis and cyclones can drastically augment drifting.

• The practice had helped breeding for deep sea fishing, which the nation’s southern Sinhala fishers have been very successful at.
• The country further claimed that the dumped vehicles would act as artificial reefs, and help the growth of slow-moving fish species and also provide them safety from faster varieties that otherwise fed on them.
• Artificial reef making has been in practice in the US since the 17th century and in Japan for over a century-and-half. According to the Minister, such practices had helped fish breeding and increase fish yields.

The maritime boundary agreements of 1974 and 1976—which delimited international boundaries in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar and Bay of Bengal, respectively.

• The maritime boundary between India and Sri Lanka was established though a pair of bilateral Agreements that were reached in 1974 and 1976 and spans some 288 km from the tripoint with the Maldives in the west to the 200 nautical mile limit of India and Sri Lanka in the east.
• Palk Strait (1974): The portion of the boundary that passes through the Palk Strait, which is defined as historic waters, was established based on the principle of modified equidistance in a 1974 Agreement.
• Gulf of Mannar (1976): The boundary in the Indian Ocean/Gulf of Mannar and in the Bay of Bengal was established in 1976 and follows a simplified equidistance line.
  

Artificial reefs are beneficial because they can attract fish and other wildlife and as a result, tourism, recreational fishing and other commercial activities. However, such reefs are not perfect and suitable for all situations, as they can damage natural habitats.