Indian trawlers threaten Sri Lanka fisheries

[Bombay Dude]

krishna is a dumazz who reads the portuguese miniter speech instead of his......go read indira-premadas 1974 accord....

we gave you ktheevu on the condition tamil fishermen wil be allowed to fish there as that has been their traditional fishing ground for centuries......

again the transfer of ktheevu itself has not been ratified by the indian parliament and court case is going on...

The resolution, moved by the Chief Minister, cited the Supreme Court's ruling in 1960 in the Berubari case that any agreement on the cession of Indian territory to another country should be ratified by Parliament through an amendment of the Constitution. However, contrary to the verdict of the Supreme Court, Katchatheevu was ceded, under the 1974 and 1976 agreements, to Sri Lanka without the approval of two Houses of Parliament.

The Hindu : Today's Paper News : Resolution passed on Katchatheevu

The Cession was Illegal Henceforth!

 

[ashokdeiva]

This has always been the attitude of the SL Government and its majority Shinhala population, you guys come up with this kind of a crap load when your SL Navy abuses Tamil fishermen in their historic and traditional fishing grounds.
Just after 3 day of attacking three Tamil Fisher men, your government tries to come up with a sh*t story.
Tamil Fishermen Attacked by SL Navy

 

[ashokdeiva]

Sri lankan Tamils vs Indian Tamils.....

Is this some kind of a cheap stunt of yours to say the world that the Indian Tamils do not care for SL tamils.
You are trying to carry the wave in your favour by saying utter lies, as if there is no fisherman in Sihanla population and only the minorities are fishermen in your country.

 

[illuminatidinesh]

":Hey Tamil guy, local fisherman in north and east of Sri Lanka are tamils, Sri Lankan tamil fisherman complain this issue to Sri Lankan officals daily. Interesting issue is Tamil nadu tamil fisherman directly hurting Sri Lankan tamil fisherman. "

Cut the crap will U .....U have killed enough Tamils to be left, Interesting issue is a Sinhalese talking about Tamil fishermen.

 

[Kazhugu]

tamil nadu fisherman and Sri lankan tamil fisherman are so called brothers know, so we wont do anything, SL tamil fisherman can talk with TN bro's.

thats good..so you can ask the lankan navy to stfu and let us deal with our bros on the other side....

 

[samv]

we are legally allowed to fish in ktchtheevu area........so dont lament this is the loss, that is the loss......

Nope... only allowed to dry fishing nets - not engage in fishing - as per the agreement.

---------- Post added at 10:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 PM ----------

Is this some kind of a cheap stunt of yours to say the world that the Indian Tamils do not care for SL tamils.
You are trying to carry the wave in your favour by saying utter lies, as if there is no fisherman in Sihanla population and only the minorities are fishermen in your country.

It's true though - you have Jalayalitha screaming about the rights of SL Tamils but is happy for Indian Tamil fisherman to rape SL waters and deprive SL Tamil fisherman of their livelihood, and lock up SL Tamil refugees in camps for years on end. It's all a political show.

---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 PM ----------

This has always been the attitude of the SL Government and its majority Shinhala population, you guys come up with this kind of a crap load when your SL Navy abuses Tamil fishermen in their historic and traditional fishing grounds.
Just after 3 day of attacking three Tamil Fisher men, your government tries to come up with a sh*t story.
Tamil Fishermen Attacked by SL Navy

Stop poaching in Sri Lankan waters and stick to Indian waters... is that so hard for Tamil Nadu fisherman to understand? People can't be that stupid, even if they happen to be illiterate.

While at it, end the drug smuggling too.

 

[samv]

A thank you to Al Jazeera for exposing this. Won't be shown in Tamil Nadu I suppose though, because it would expose the hypocrisy.

 

[rio90]

give them one warning , if they don`t listen ,just start shooting !

 

[pakdefender]

what a wonderful country india is , it has disputes with all its neighbours

 

[Iggy]

give them one warning , if they don`t listen ,just start shooting !

Do Sri Lanka have time travel machine to go back to 2011 to shoot them?? Dude, look at date before posting!

what a wonderful country india is , it has disputes with all its neighbours

Own +1

Anyother takers?

 

[Gibbs]

These Madrasi Poachers better get ready to get some of thier empty skulls cracked open if this continues..They're doing this deliberatly to cause tension between the countries..Third class thives not only steal but damage nets of Lankan fishermen.Enough tolerating this garbage..Before the usual TN jokers here scream.. Kalpitiya is about 70 KM south of controversial Kachateevu..Well inside our territorial waters

High tension over fishing: Navy sends patrol craft

The Sri Lanka Navy yesterday deployed additional patrol craft off the north-western coast as tension was building up after a string of intrusions by Indian fishermen into Lankan territorial waters.

Navy Spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya told the Sunday Times that two Dvora craft were rushed to the area following a complaint lodged by the Fisheries Department. The move came after an estimated 250 fishing trawlers and boats entered Sri Lankan territorial waters on two consecutive days causing damage to local fishing boats and fishing gear.

Despite the presence of the Naval craft, the Indian fishing boats re-entered the Lankan waters last night.�Anton Rex, president of the Multiday Fisheries Association, told the Sunday Times that soon after the first incident took place on Thursday, the Navy was alerted, but no action had been taken until last afternoon.

‘On Friday the Indian trawlers were 20 kilometers from our shore and laid their nets. Local fishermen’s nets valued at more than Rs. 500,000 were damaged in the process,” he said. As a result of Friday’s incidents, some 75 local fishing craft could not engage in fishing and were deprived of their income. “The tension is building up. About 15 of our boats stayed together in fear that the Indians may attack our fishermen. The local fishermen also may retaliate if the situation continues as our authorities are not taking action against them,” a representative of the Fisheries Association said.

.

 

[HeinzG]

Is this some kind of a cheap stunt of yours to say the world that the Indian Tamils do not care for SL tamils.
You are trying to carry the wave in your favour by saying utter lies, as if there is no fisherman in Sihanla population and only the minorities are fishermen in your country.

These kind of incidents happens in the waters where majority of Tamil people live, hence the fisherman are overwhelmingly Tamil.

 

[KRAIT]

Let the diplomatic channels deal with this problem. No need to go firing guns. The Indo-Sri Lanka relationship is getting a beating right now especially in India.

 

[Gibbs]

^^^^

This is what happens when we try to do things the "nice" way.. Indians should realised the political compultions behind it's TN state polity.. Now they want GOI to interfere on domestic law of a another country? Clear attempt to antagonise the bilateral relations between two sovereign nations.. Repeated infringment on maritime boundry..Realise who owns these fleets of trawlers that trespass and used Internationally banned fishing methods?.. Why is it that fisherpeople from Kerala or Andra which are also close proximity to the island does'nt poach and tresspass International boundries in thier thousands??

Lankan fisher communities have every right to crack some Madrasi skulls to stop this blatent provocations and threats to thier livelyhoods

Jayalalithaa asks Indian PM to get 16 fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka Navy released

Mar 04, Chennai: The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa has sought Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's help to get 16 Indian fishermen arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy for trespassing into Sri Lankan waters released.

Ina letter written to the PM today, the Chief Minister asked the PM to take urgent action to urge the Sri Lankan authorities to immediately release the 16 fishermen with their 3 boats without filing any cases against them.

Sri Lanka Navy arrested the 16 Indian fishermen and seized their three trawlers Sunday (March 03) for violating the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and trespassing into Sri Lankan waters off Kalpitiya in the northwest.

The fishermen have been produced before the courts after they were handed over to the Kalpitiya police for further investigations.

"I am pained to point out that the incidents of apprehension and harassment of innocent Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy have become a regular occurrence in the past few months creating a feeling of insecurity and fear amongst the fishermen community," the CM wrote in her letter to Singh.

She further said that the families of the arrested 16 fishermen and various Fishermen Associations have appealed to the Tamil Nadu Government to secure their early release since they were only pursuing their livelihood in the Gulf of Mannar area, where they have been fishing all along.

"The Sri Lankan Government has always assured us in various bilateral meetings that Indian fishermen who are apprehended while fishing will be released expeditiously without prolonged legal hurdles," she pointed out.

Indian fishermen, mainly from Tamil Nadu, illegally poaching in large scale with trawlers in Sri Lanka's waters, have become a serious threat to the livelihoods of Sri Lankan fishermen and they have urged the Sri Lankan authorities to prevent the Indian fishermen from stealing their livelihood.

Sri Lanka Navy says it assists the fishing industry and apprehends the poachers in order to prevent exploitation of the country's fishing resources and harms inflicted on its marine life.

 

[Gibbs]

People really need to open thier eyes and realise the immense damage thats been done not only to Tamil livelyhoods but the marine environment..Without buying in to TN,BS propaganda just because the post under the guise of a Indian flag

After the Tigers, Fishers Face Poachers


JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Mar 6 2013 (IPS) - The sea is all that 40-year-old Arul Das has mastered. From looking at the clouds or from the direction of the wind, this fisher from northern Jaffna can predict the condition of the sea fairly accurately.

Till May 2009, the sea he fished in was the most dangerous in the region. He had to keep clear of deadly skirmishes between the Sri Lankan Navy and the naval unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Tigers, then fighting for a separate state for the Tamil minority in northern Sri Lanka, used the sea to smuggle arms and carry out deadly suicide attacks on the government Navy.

The Tigers often used civilian fishing boats, and that meant that Das and others like him had to be particularly careful they did not get mistaken for Tigers.

“There were fishing restrictions on the times we could go out, on the strength of the engines we used, and how far we could go,” Das told IPS.


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The war ended in May 2009, when the Tigers were defeated by government forces. Das and thousands like him thought that was also the end of their troubles at sea.

But almost four years since the war ended and security restrictions were lifted, he has not been able to improve his catch. Now he faces a new mid-sea threat – Indian fishing trawlers illegally poaching in Sri Lankan waters in thousands.

On any given day, the powerful and larger Indian boats can be seen poaching across the maritime boundary in the Palk Strait, the narrow sea that divides Sri Lanka and India. These trawlers use larger nets, with some hooking concrete beams to the nets to gain better traction as they drag along the ocean bed.

Smaller Sri Lankan boats know that attempts to confront the Indian boats can end in serious losses. “Every time I have run into the Indian trawlers, I have returned to shore with damages over a thousand dollars,” Das said. Now he simply stays away from the areas where the bigger boats ply. Unfortunately, these happen to be the richest fishing waters.

Maarten Bavinck, director at the Amsterdam-based Centre for Maritime Research has been researching the impact of the Indian incursions. He told IPS that more than half the estimated 5,000 trawlers based in South Indian fishing harbours like Rameshwaran and Nagampathan depend on Sri Lanka fishing grounds for their catch.

Bavinck’s research shows that Sri Lankans have suffered dearly. His studies at two fishing villages in the north showed that fishers who would ideally go out to sea for 200 days a year have now cut this down to between 60 to 80 days. “The trawler incursions are a major reason for this low number of fishing days,” he said.

The financial impact of this reduction in fishing days is dramatic. Between 20,000 to 28,000 families depend on fishing in the northern province of Sri Lanka, according to available government data. The family members number well over 100,000.

Bavinck estimates that incomes have fallen by as much as 20 percent. In some cases the losses are as large as 300 dollars per year for a fisher whose average monthly income is around 7,000 to 8,000 rupees (53 to 60 dollars), Bavinck said.

“As one cannot feed a family on income from 60 days (at sea), these fishers necessarily have to find additional income sources, such as working as masons,” he said.

The contributions of fishing to the regional economy have also lagged. They remain a relatively small 3 percent of the provincial economy, a third of the share a decade back during a ceasefire.

The poaching is on the rise despite patrolling by the Sri Lankan Navy and its Indian counterpart along the maritime boundary that runs 463 km between the island’s northern coast and the Indian mainland. Indian boats have been sighted as far out as the seas of eastern Trincomalee and Mulaittivu, more than 300 km from the nearest Indian coast.
Nimal Hettiarchchi, director general of the Sri Lanka Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources told IPS that the authorities in both countries acknowledge the issue of poaching. “I don’t think enforcement is the answer, we need to come up with a workable solution that has support of fishermen on either side.”

The official said that discussions were continuing at ministerial level at the joint working group on fishing set up in 2011.

Bavinck agreed that any solution should be a mutual compromise. “The trawl fleet in India needs to be reduced in size, so that it matches the carrying capacity of Indian waters. This is a complex process.”

Many Indian fishers still regard areas outside the country’s maritime boundary as their traditional fishing grounds, despite the boundary that was agreed in 1976. “The Indian trawler fleet has nowhere else to go but Sri Lanka (waters),” Bavinck said.

For the time being there is usually peace. Fishers in the north tell IPS they have been instructed not to engage the Indians.

“We have been told to let them fish and go back, even the Navy seems to follow that,” said Douglas Paul, a boat owner from the northern fishing port Point Pedro.

IPS – After the Tigers, Fishers Face Poachers | Inter Press Service