Poaching: Lanka wants high priority for bottom-trawling issue

With the Indo-Lanka Joint Working Group (JWG) due to hold its second round of meetings in Colombo tomorrow, Sri Lanka will ask India how effectively it would address the bottom trawling practice in the Palk Strait, a Sri Lankan delegation official said.

“We agreed on certain proposals at the last JWG meeting in New Delhi. These included India’s assurance that it would put a full stop to bottom trawling. We will follow up on this ahead of the Ministerial level talks next week in Colombo,” the official said.

Prior to the Ministerial level talks, a high level discussions co-chaired by the Secretary of Sri Lanka's Fisheries Ministry and India’s Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries took place yesterday in New Delhi. Fisheries Ministry Secretary W.M.M.R. Adikari led the five-member Lankan delegation which includes Navy and Sri Lanka Coast Guard officials.

The Joint Working Group was set up to find a sustainable solution to the issue of poaching by Indian fishermen.

India’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh will be heading a high level Indian delegation while the Sri Lankan delegation will be headed by Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera. Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samarweera is also to participate along with representatives of the Navy, the Sri Lanka Coast Guard and the Attorney General's Department.At the first meeting, both governments agreed to a request by Fishermen's Associations that there should be no violence and no loss of life in the handling of fishermen by the navies and coast guards of the two countries.

It was also decided to expedite the transition towards ending the practice of bottom trawling at the earliest, working out the modalities for the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for handing over of arrested fishermen, and ascertaining possibilities for cooperation of joint patrolling of the two countries' Navies.

According to the Fisheries Ministry, the trespassing of Tamil Nadu trawlers into Lankan waters in recent months has gone down by half, as the Navy and the Sri Lanka Coast Guard took tough action. They continue to arrest the poaching fishermen and seize the vessels.

"Usually nearly 5,000 Indian fishing vessels enter Sri Lankan waters at least three days per week and make a fish catch of about 6,000 metric tonnes a week. This amounts to an annual loss of Rs. 9,000 million to Sri Lanka's economy," a ministerial note says.

The Ministry has decided to release the arrested Indian fishermen on humanitarian grounds following legal action, but the seized vessels will not be released. Some 130 trawlers seized by the Navy are now in Sri Lanka's custody.

Meanwhile, the Northern fishermen have expressed fears that compromises could be made at official level because the scheduled meeting was shifted to New Delhi from Colombo without prior notification.

“There has to be procedural justice when negotiations are taking place at government level by giving enough time for both parties to negotiate a win-win solution. Fishermen are sceptical about these talks as they were not informed of the change of venue and it might create deep concern among the fisher folk communities,” said Thiyagaraja Waradas, an adviser who took part in the recent fishermen level talks.

An Indian High Commission spokesperson confirmed that India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would not participate in the second round of ministerial level talks in Colombo due to health concerns as she had undergone a kidney transplant operatio early this month.