Poaching: Grasp the nettle

Saturday 19th June, 2021

India has denied media reports that its Navy recently assaulted a group of Sri Lankan fishermen, who claim the attack took place on the high seas. We cannot either confirm or deny these claims. Both sides cannot be expected to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Fishers are notorious for fish tales, and so are diplomats, who are said to lie abroad for the good of their countries. But the question is who actually set upon the Sri Lankan fishermen, whose torsos and limbs are wealed and raw. (It is not possible that they assaulted themselves or came under an alien attack.) Sometimes, Indian fishermen also complain of attacks by the Sri Lanka Navy, and Colombo promptly denies such allegations.

The real issue here is poaching, and not the complaints that the Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen are occasionally assaulted at sea. Sri Lankan fishers are not entirely blameless; there are times when some of them get arrested for illegal fishing in Indian waters. But the number of these poachers pales into insignificance in comparison to that of their Tamil Nadu counterparts who frequently swarm the territorial waters of this country.

The Indian poachers seem to think they have a legitimate right to enter Sri Lankan waters for fishing. Hence their chutzpah to oppose Sri Lanka’s efforts to create new fish breeding grounds by sinking old buses in its territorial waters; these contraptions will damage their boats, they have argued. They have admitted, albeit unwittingly, that they fish in Sri Lankan waters! The actual reason for their protests is their fear that the submerged buses will damage the nets they use for bottom trawling, which is illegal, as Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda has pointed out. Many more old vehicles must be sunk in the sea to prevent bottom trawling.

Poaching is a far more complex issue than it looks, and the politics of it has not been factored into the efforts being made to resolve it. On 04 December 2013, the then Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne disclosed that certain Tamil Nadu politicians were behind the illegal fishing operations in Sri Lankan waters. He said they owned boats, which they made available to Indian fishers on the condition that they fished in Sri Lankan waters. These elements are bent on belittling Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, and pitting the Central government of India against this country.

The issue of poaching has remained unsolved all these years because Sri Lanka and India have been seeking a diplomatic solution to a legal problem. Their interventions, purportedly on humanitarian grounds, only encourage poachers, who know their governments will get them off the hook when they get into hot water.

When Indian poachers are taken into custody, Tamil Nadu politicians pressure the Central government to make interventions, and Colombo meekly releases them. Illegal fishing is a punishable offence under the internatioanl law, and must be treated as such. If Sri Lankan fishers enter India’s territorial waters purposely, they must be brought to justice, and the Indian poachers caught in Sri Lankan waters must be dealt with in a similar manner.

The weak-kneed Sri Lankan leaders release the Indian trawlers taken into custody for illegal fishing. This practice must end. All the vessels used for poaching must be confiscated and serious thought must be given to sinking them in the sea as part of the ongoing project to create new fish breeding grounds. This is the way to make the Tamil Nadu politicians stop promoting illegal fishing. India can do likewise to safeguard its interests. Then only the poachers of both countries will realise that they are not above the international law and feel the need to act with restraint. Half-hearted attempts to solve the problem will never reach fruition. Let the nettle be grasped.