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Northern fishermen want tough action against Indian and local trawlers
View(s):Small-scale fishermen in the Northern Jaffna Peninsula said yesterday that they were constantly threatened by Tamil Nadu trawlers fishing illegally in Sri Lankan waters, a week after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised Indian Premier Narendra Modi to release all boats belonging to Indian fishermen in the country’s custody.
The small-scale fishermen in Kayts, Velanai and Karainagar wrote to Douglas Devananda, the newly appointed Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister, requesting him to ensure that officers and staff of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources “take all necessary action to ensure the deterrence and, where necessary, the arrest of Tamil Nadu trawlers caught fishing illegally in Sri Lankan waters and Sri Lankan boats caught operating illegal trawl nets in our waters”.
During the President’s recent India visit, the contentious fisheries issue was discussed at length with Prime Minister Modi. Mr Rajapaksa vowed to release all boats belonging to Indian fishermen in Sri Lanka’s custody.
But the Fisheries Department said yesterday it had not yet received any official instructions regarding a large number of Indian boats forfeited under the amended Fisheries (Regulation of Foreign Fishing Boats) Act which allows for the prosecution of foreign trawlers for illegally fishing in Sri Lankan waters. Some of the boats are productions in ongoing cases. As they are forfeited–as opposed to confiscated–the Sri Lankan Government has the right to do what it wishes with them, including auctioning.
However, a request has been made with regard to more than 150 Indian boats that were confiscated (not forfeited) when the fishermen on board were previously taken in and prosecuted under the Immigrants and Emigrants Act of 1948, Director General of Fisheries G P J Kumara said. “They want us to auction these boats which are not in a condition to be taken back and for the money to be given to the owners,” he explained.
The Indian High Commission has also indicated that India will release around 20 Sri Lankan boats that are in its custody but a date for such an exchange has not been set. Neither are there firm plans to auction the other vessels.
Since January 2019, Magistrates in Kayts, Point Pedro, Kilinochchi and Mannar have applied the amended Fisheries (Regulation of Foreign Fishing Boats) Act. Tamil Nadu fish workers who plead guilty to the charges of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Sri Lankan waters are given a five-year suspended sentence and discharged. They are handed over by the courts to the police and repatriated immediately. The trawlers that are forfeited become the property of the State–that is, the Director General of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Campaigners working for years on preventing IUU fishing say that, if all Indian boats are released, it could undermine the actions of the Sri Lankan Navy to protect and secure Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary and sovereignty of the seas. It would also undermine and negate the work of the Attorney General’s Department and Fisheries Department to develop and use appropriate laws to prosecute IUU fishing.
“Building stronger and more effective bilateral relations with India is an important task for the new President of Sri Lanka, but this cannot be achieved abdicating responsibility for Sri Lanka’s maritime security, sacrificing Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, ignoring Sri Lanka’s and the livelihoods of small scale Sri Lankan fishermen,” an industry specialist said, requesting anonymity . “The legal responsibility for solving the persistent problem of IUU fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers in Sri Lankan waters lies with the State Government of Tamil Nadu, wherein the jurisdiction for managing fisheries within Indian territorial waters (up to 12 nautical miles) resides. “
“f the Central Government of India can extend its fullest support to the State Government and the Tamil Nadu Department of Fisheries implements its own laws and manages its own fisheries, then the Sri Lankan Navy will not have to apprehend nor will the new Sri Lankan President have to release Tamil Nadu trawlers arrested for illegally fishing in Sri Lankan waters,” he pointed out.