Aggressive manoeuvres carried out by an Indian mechanised trawler in Sri Lankan waters on Monday (24) night, cost the life of a Sri Lankan sailor and damaged a navy patrol boat. 

The Indian trawler, one of thousands which cross over the international maritime boundary line (IMBL) in the Palk Strait each week to engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU), has been detained by local authorities. In most other countries, the vessel would be impounded, the suspects charged with IUU fishing and reckless endangerment of lives, and numerous other charges. However, given the history of how such poaching vessels have been treated with a slap on the wrist, the public shouldn’t be surprised if this matter is quietly swept under the rug by local authorities. It will be interesting to see how the Police and the prosecutors file charges against the skipper and the crew of the trawler.  

The fact that nearly after 24 hours of the incident occurring, there is yet no sign of an official statement by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Fisheries or the Ministry of Defence, is indicative of how weak the Sri Lankan State is to respond to such cross-border crime. It begs the question, was the sailor who lost his life, simply a casualty of a poaching vessel’s reckless manoeuvring, or is he also a victim of big power–small power relations?

The Navy patrol vessel, which had been on routine patrol had intercepted and attempted to board the suspect trawler, which was well within Sri Lankan waters, when the skipper of the trawler had recklessly manoeuvred his vessel in close proximity to the patrol boat causing a collision and injuring a sailor in the process. The sailor was later pronounced dead upon being admitted to hospital. The Sri Lanka Navy and Coast Guard brave our waters on a daily basis to patrol our nations’ maritime boundaries, which are clearly established and universally accepted. However, they are under-equipped for the task, increasing the risk of the duty they perform. Both the Navy and the Coast Guard work with an ageing coastal patrol fleet, with little or no night vision capabilities at their disposal. The air surveillance, and intelligence picture they received has been characterised by one senior officer as both inadequate and not being ‘real time’. However, the biggest handicap the Navy and other maritime law enforcement authorities have is that, the State and the political authority seems to be on lackadaisical approach by the rest of the ‘State’ to stand  by them, and ensure that those apprehended are prosecuted in accordance with the law. One front line officer who patrols the border questioned their work: “What’s the point, it’s basically a catch and release system. No poacher gets jail time. So where is the deterrent value?” he told The Daily Morning.

In 2017, Sri Lanka became the first country in Asia to completely ban bottom trawling and the use of destructive trawl nets with the passage of an amendment to the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act. However, six months later, the Department of Fisheries proposed to weaken this ban by allowing ‘less destructive’ trawling in designated trawling zones. Despite Sri Lankan laws prohibiting bottom trawling and illegal fishing by foreign vessels, Indian fishing trawlers continue to poach in the island’s northern seas without facing legal consequences for the violation, according to fisher leaders from the island’s Northern Province. 

The IUU fishing issue is a political hot potato which no mainstream Sri Lankan political party wants to take up as a national issue. Hence, thousands of fishermen in the North suffer. Periodically the ‘issue’ as some in the Foreign Service refer to it, is flashed in press releases as a topic for ‘discussion’ between the leaders of both nations. However, little or nothing happens, and Sri Lanka keeps making concessions to the illegal practice which on a clear night is visible to those on the coast from Mannar to KKS. If Sri Lanka continues to backpedal on enforcing the laws which were brought in to end the destructive bottom trawling, the North, North West and North Eastern communities will likely be left with dwindling fish stocks, and a food security crisis. And more lives of Sri Lankan armed forces and law enforcement personnel will have to be thrown in harm’s way, needlessly. What is the point of having a Legislature, which is aimed to be a deterrent that is not exercised?   

This year, up to date, nearly 27 Indian trawlers which were engaged in IUU fishing and nearly 215 of its crews have been arrested by Sri Lankan authorities. 

However, the daily violations by the ‘neighbourhood first’ fleet of poachers, laughs in the face of Sri Lanka laws, and the plight of the thousands of fishermen whose livelihoods these poachers so recklessly destroy with the banned ‘bottom trawling’ practice.