Talks on India-Lanka fishing issues

by P. Krishnaswamy

Over 117 fishermen's associations representing all Northern fishing villages are now having discussions in Jaffna in an effort to reach a consensus on proposals made during the recent visit of their 23-member delegation to Tamil Nadu.

The proposals, put out by fishermen's representatives of the two countries, are on major cross-border fishing issues, S. Thavaratnam, Chairman of the Federation of Jaffna District Fishermen's Unions told the Sunday Observer .

These proposals include the gradual withdrawal of Indian fishing trawlers from Sri Lankan territorial fishing grounds, restrictions on the hours and days of fishing by Indian fishing vessels, methods of fishing to prevent the depletion of fish and prawn life and monitoring by committees appointed by the two governments, Thavaratnam said.

The 23-member delegation of Sri Lankan fishermen held discussions with their Indian counterparts from August 16-22 in Rameswaram, Jegathapattinam, Nagapattinam and Chennai with the presence of government officials and members of civil society organisations as observers. Sri Lankan Fisheries Department Director General S. W. Pathirana, who attended the discussions on the final day in Chennai, and Project Officers W. S. Lal de Silva and N. Thilakaratne who were present throughout the one-week-long discussions also confirmed that both sides are signatories to the proposals. National Fisheries Solidarity Convenor Hermankumara and India's Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen representative Vivekanandan were also present throughout the seven-day discussions.

The salient features of the proposals to which both sides agreed are: restriction on fishing by Indian vessels in Sri Lankan waters to 70 days a year during the hours 4 p.m. to 4 a.m.; complete withdrawal of mechanised trawler fishing within one year; in the Palk Straits north of Mannar Island, fishing to be carried out beyond a distance of three nautical miles from the Sri Lankan shore (fishing to be carried out seawards from Palathivu and Iranaitivu); use of pair trawlers to be discontinued forthwith; number of boats coming from India to be limited and all conditions for fishing (by Indian trawlers) to be monitored with the help of the two governments.

The current discussions are to obtain the consent of the Northern fishing community to the proposals at a rural level and incorporating their suggestions and views. The proposals will then be submitted to the Government towards bilateral agreements with India on the issues, Thavaratnam said.