The Palk Bay dispute, involving Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen, can be resolved through a combination of measures such as the ban on bottom trawling, a quota for traditional fishing methods and a bilateral research project to improve marine resources in the region, according to Nirmala Chandrahasan, a veteran Sri Lankan academic.
Answering questions on ways to resolve the dispute, Dr. Chandrahasan, who specialises in international law, especially in the Law of the Sea, said in an email interview to The Hindu that though efforts were under way in India to regulate bottom trawling, they would not be sufficient “without an explicit ban” on the practice. No transition period should be allowed for bottom trawling, which was prohibited by the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. It also went against the spirit of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. ”In fact, one could argue that there has been, in effect, a transitional period since 2009 when the civil war ended in Sri Lanka,” she pointed out.
However, considering the “ethnic, cultural and religious bonds” between the fishing communities of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, the academic, who authored Sri Lanka and the Law of the Sea, suggested the resumption of talks between the fishermen on either side of the Palk Bay. “Subject to the consent of the fishermen of the Province, a system of quota can be worked out under which certain days and times could be earmarked for each group,” she said, adding that the “actual fisherfolk” of Tamil Nadu, using “traditional methods and small boats”, should be distinguished from “businessmen-owners” of trawlers who were not necessarily from the Palk Bay districts.
Suggesting that the Ministers of Fisheries in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka be included in the negotiations, she said the Minister of Fisheries in Sri Lanka (Douglas Devananda), who hails from the North, “is in contact with the affected fishermen of the Province”. Besides, “as fisheries comes under the Concurrent List of the Sri Lankan Constitution, any discussion should involve the provincial administration of the North as well”.
She said the fishermen of the North, who were prevented by the armed forces during the civil war for security reasons, had “suffered immeasurably”, whereas those from Tamil Nadu went about their business freely. In 2009, when the Tamil fishermen of the North gained access to their own traditional waters after the war ended, they found themselves competing against large numbers of fishing vessels and fishermen from Tamil Nadu. Furthermore, even their nets and fishing equipment were destroyed largely owing to what their counterparts across the Bay did. “One can imagine the sufferings of the community in the North and its sense of frustration and anguish,” Dr. Chandrahasan explained, urging the Indian authorities to sensitise continuously the fishermen of Tamil Nadu to the provisions governing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and ensure they did not cross it.
Floating the idea of a collaborative research project, Dr. Chandrahasan, who described the area comprising the Palk Strait-Palk Bay and parts of the Gulf of Mannar as semi-enclosed or land-locked seas, cited Article 123 of the Convention which called for cooperation between states bordering enclosed or semi-enclosed areas. India and Sri Lanka could learn from the experience of the Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission, “which maintains equitable quotas among the member-states to conserve the living resources of the Baltic Sea”. Among the members of the Commission are Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and the European Union.
India and Sri Lanka could set up a research station in the Bay region for experiments by marine biologists and fisheries experts to increase the living resources and safeguard the marine environment as this would be in the interests of the two countries, she said.
