Will talks between Indian, Sri Lankan fishermen yield positive results this time?

MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu government has sought the Centre's consent to hold the next round of talks between fishermen in the state and their counterparts in Sri Lanka in Chennai on March 5 to end the long-standing problem of maritime violations and the ensuing detentions of fishermen. However, there is widespread skepticism about the outcome of such talks.

Bilateral talks between the fishermen of the two countries have been taking place since 2004 without any positive outcome. With trawling by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters continuing to be a major bone of contention, a solution doesn't seem to be in sight.

Sri Lanka has been crying hoarse that such "destructive fishing practices" are depleting marine wealth. Experts point out that any decision or policy with regard to international maritime laws and territorial issues could only be taken at higher diplomatic levels.

U Arulanandam of the Alliance for Release of Innocent Fishermen and fishermen leader from Rameswaram welcomed the initiative of the government to facilitate next level of talks.

"While we appreciate the efforts of the state government, the resolutions passed in previous talks should have been given some shape. The state government could have taken up some of the initiatives suggested by Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen without which there will be no end in talking", he opined.

S Venugopal, president of the Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boat Fishermen in Chennai, said that there would be no solution derived from talks unless Tamil Nadu fishermen stopped trawling.

"The major complaint of Sri Lankan fishermen is that our fishermen destroy marine wealth using trawl nets in their waters even near the shore. There is no point in asking three years or five years' time to quit trawling. This should be done at once to find some solution," he pointed out.

Talking to TOI over phone from Sri Lanka, Emiliyan Pillai, president of the Federation of Jaffna District Fishermen Associations, said: "Talks will not proceed if Indian fishermen are not going to stop trawling. If they still insist on trawling, let them do whatever in their own water not here. We will not hesitate to protest against our government too if there is any attempt to deviate in protecting our fishermen rights", he mentioned.

Justin Soysa, president of the Federation of Mannar District Fishermen Associations, said Indian trawlers were destroying their fishing gear. "There is a lot of uproar back in the country. If Indian fishermen are not going to stop this destructive fishing, we may not even come for talks", he warned.

However, according to Tamil Nadu fishermen, they can't quit trawling with so many boats on the shore. For instance, there are 700 boats in Rameswaram and such massive fleet can't use conventional fishing gear all on a sudden.

The fleet size should be cut down or moved out. "Either the government should buy back good number of boats by compensating fishers or enable them to go deep sea fishing. There seems to be no other solution available at this time", Venugopal mentioned.

Commodore R S Vasan (retd), Head Strategy and Security Studies, Center for Asia Studies, also stressed that Indian fishermen should stop trawling.

"It should be noted most of our solutions to the fishermen row is at the cost of Sri Lankan fishermen who are actually Tamil fishermen on the other side. The talks are scheduled at a time when next fishing ban period to start in April and our fishermen keep demanding the release of boats in Sri Lankan custody", he said.

"In my opinion, though release of boats is humanitarian thing, they should be ideally destroyed and trawling should be banned once and for all after the fishing ban period this year. There is no point in repeated talks", he said.

Vasan also stated that the fishermen row will sour Indo-Lankan relations which appears to progress in positive note after regime change.

"It is a golden opportunity to strengthen ties with the Island nation", he added.

READ ALSO: Sri Lanka orders release of fishing boats ahead of Sirisena's visit to India

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