Sri Lanka’s northern fishermen on Sunday stated they “fiercely oppose” the federal government’s plan to issue licences to Indian fishermen to enter Sri Lankan waters, terming the transfer a “critical setback” to their practically 15-year-long wrestle.
On February 22, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry instructed Parliament that authorities have been wanting into probably issuing licences to Indian fishermen, as a part of Sri Lanka’s efforts to discover a resolution to the long-persisting fisheries battle, by way of “cordial” bilateral talks.
“This was mentioned this with Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar… Sri Lanka’s precedence is to safeguard fishermen’s livelihoods, the nation’s marine assets, and discover a long-term resolution… India has proposed this licensing system as an answer, and we’re holding discussions on it,” he stated, including that such a system would assist Indian authorities higher regulate their fishermen, and also will usher in cash that may very well be used for Sri Lankan fishermen’s betterment.
About “2,000 to 3,000 (Indian trawlers) come to our seas every single day and our Navy is unable to management that,” Sabry additional famous.
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The Minister’s remarks have sparked critical concern amongst northern fishermen, stated Annalingam Annarasa, who leads a Jaffna-based fishermen’s affiliation.
“We are very apprehensive, this shall be a critical setback to our wrestle for the final 15 years to cease Indian trawlers from coming into our seas,” he instructed The Hindu. “Moreover, some political actors are attempting to flip fishermen of our two international locations in opposition to one another, utilizing this drawback. We want an pressing resolution to this.”
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Fisher leaders together with him on Sunday put ahead this view to Tamil MPs representing northern districts and sought their help to resist the Sri Lankan authorities’s proposal and to urge Colombo to totally implement Sri Lankan legal guidelines that ban backside trawling and unlawful fishing.
Following the assembly, Jaffna MP M.A. Sumanthiran — whose invoice in opposition to backside trawling was handed by the Sri Lankan parliament in 2017 — stated the legislators throughout events agreed that no permits needs to be issued to Indian trawlers.
“Even with out permits, Indian trawlers are already coming into Sri Lankan waters, and destroying marine assets. Issuing licenses will solely irritate the issue,” he stated, including that the MPs and fisher leaders would make a joint name to the federal government.
The fisheries battle affecting fishermen of Sri Lanka and India has remained a thorny issue in Indo-Lanka bilateral ties.
From the time Sri Lanka’s civil struggle resulted in 2009, Tamil fishermen residing in Sri Lanka’s northern districts have persistently protested Indian trawlers — originating from Tamil Nadu — fishing alongside their shoreline, citing the destruction they trigger to marine biodiversity and their livelihoods which can be carefully tied to it.
Sri Lankan fishermen additionally incessantly report critical injury to their fishing nets and equipment, and big losses, owing to the underside trawlers.
Despite a number of rounds of bilateral talks and discussions amongst fishermen’s representatives from both facet of the Palk Strait the issue is but to be resolved, leaving the northern Sri Lankan fisher folks, who’re struggling to resurrect their war-battered livelihoods, in a precarious state of affairs.
In 2016, the 2 governments agreed to “expedite the transition in direction of ending the apply of backside trawling on the earliest”, acknowledging the Sri Lankan fishermen’s demand as “real”.
However, with no resolution in sight, northern fishermen have continued to agitate.
Last 12 months, they wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Okay. Stalin, in search of his intervention to decisively tackle the issue. They submitted a number of petitions to the Indian missions in Sri Lanka as properly.
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The proposed licensing system will “undermine fishing as a lifestyle” for the following generations of Sri Lankan fishermen, in accordance to Ahilan Kadirgamar, a senior lecturer on the University of Jaffna, who researches northern livelihoods.
“The fishermen’s wrestle for the reason that finish of the struggle has been to discover a diplomatically negotiated resolution to this significant issue attributable to Indian trawlers. They really feel each the Sri Lankan and Indian governments have betrayed them,” he stated.