Nearly a month has passed by since, aggressive manoeuvring by an Indian mechanised trawler, poaching in Sri Lankan waters, claimed the life of a Sri Lankan sailor and damaged a navy patrol boat. While the Government has addressed the issue with India, at its usual snail-pace diplomacy, more Indian trawlers continue to violate Sri Lankan sovereignty. Had the diplomatic dialog between Colombo and New Delhi been about an issue about an Indian strategic investment, such as an Adani project, an oil tank farm acquisition, or the walking back of an Chinese investment in the North, there would have been multiple visits, high-level calls, and photo opportunity field visits, which have now become the hallmark of the bilateral ‘brotherly’ relations between the two Indian Ocean neighbours.
However, when it comes to standing up for Sri Lanka’s national interest, such as the economic security and wellbeing of its northern fishermen, both the Sri Lankan State and the political elite in the North of the island, seem to be weak at the knees before the regional giant.
On a weekly basis, thousands of South Indian fishing trawlers cross over the international maritime boundary line (IMBL – which has existed for decades) in the Palk Strait each week to engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU). It is no secret that the Palk Straits bay is overfished and needs strong fishing regulation and conservation for the fish stock to survive. However, the greed of several well-connected South Indian businessmen/women – Politicians with links to the Central Government is enough to ignore international law, and the sovereignty of nations. In most other countries, a vessel such as the trawler which caused the death last month, would be impounded, the suspects charged with IUU fishing and reckless endangerment of lives, and numerous other charges. To an external observer, the behaviour of the South Indian bottom trawling fleet, which rams patrol vessels may look very similar to the tactics employed by the Chinese maritime militia in the South China Sea. It remains to be seen if the Sri Lankan Government has the fortitude to seek justice for its own sailor, who was killed in the line of duty. It is learnt that state authorities are awaiting input from the Attorney General’s office to file indictments against the crew of the Indian trawler. President Wickremesinghe who last week raised concerns and was critical about defence lawyers and their representation of the alleged organised crime suspects, but did not see fit to question why it takes nearly a month for charges to be filed against the marauding Indian poachers.
Recently, the Fisheries Ministry told The Daily Morning that Sri Lankan fishermen have incurred losses of nearly Rs. 700 million due to bottom trawling by the Indian trawlers damaging their nets and other fishing gear. “Our priority is to prevent the entry of Indian trawlers into our waters. We don’t have any plans to recover the damage from the Indian authorities at this time,” the Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries told The Daily Morning. Shame. This is the attitude of the government officials who are tasked with ensuring the wellbeing of our fishermen.
Sri Lanka’s approach to the issue has been not to upset the rising Asian tiger and to make a series of concessions to those who plunder from their natural resources and lay waste to the livelihoods of their people. However, this needs to change. Across the pond, Sri Lankan fishermen languish in the jails of India, Maldives, Myanmar, and the Seychelles for the same crime of IUU fishing and violation of the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of the respective countries. The boats of the Sri Lankan fishermen were confiscated and they were jailed. However, Sri Lanka continues to treat the IUU poachers like tourists. Sri Lanka must address the plight of the thousands of fisher folk whose only livelihood is being robbed from them. 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.
Given the increasingly hostile and reckless nature with which Indian poachers use their trawler fleets in Sri Lankan waters, it is the duty of the Government to enforce the existing laws and introduce new penalties, which would act as a tangible deterrent to prevent cross border IUU fishing.
A slap on the wrist has clearly not worked. Last month’s death and the continued disregard for Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, resource security, and the livelihoods of the northern fisher folk, is a clear example of why the current approach is not working.