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Poaching crisis: India admits strain on relations with Lanka
India yesterday admitted that the issue of its fishermen poaching in the Palk Bay was a strain on Indo-Lanka relations and decided to hold bilateral talks in New Delhi to find a solution before the end of the year – perhaps even within three months.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who co-chaired the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission meeting on Friday said India recognised that the “goodwill and friendship” between the two countries had suffered a setback in recent years due to the poaching crisis.
Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Ministry Secretary W.M.M. Adhikari told the Sunday Times that Ms. Swaraj was of the view that a permanent solution should be found since the poaching was also destroying the marine resources of Sri Lanka.
As the fresh step to find a solution, Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera will lead an official delegation to New Delhi early next month.
Earlier several rounds of discussions on the poaching crisis were held by organisations of fisher folks of the two countries but without success. Now the talks are to be upgraded to ministerial level. Minister Amaraweera said that earlier there was a proposal by the Indian government that a three year grace period should be given to resolve the poaching issue. ‘We cannot wait for such a long period, as we have been affected due to the poaching issue for more than 30 years,” he said.
Ministry Secretary Adhikari said that at Friday’s Joint Commission talks there was agreement on the need for a crackdown on bottom-trawling — a harmful fishing method where nets are drawn along the sea bed damaging marine resources.
“We insisted that the poaching by Indian fishermen must stop at the very earliest, since it was affecting the livelihood of the local fisher folk while at the same time destroying valuable marine life in the Palk Bay and elsewhere,” she said.
Ms. Adhikari said Sri Lanka hoped that the New Delhi talks would pave the way for a ‘road map’ to end the crisis.
Meanwhile in a separate meeting held with the main opposition Tamil National Alliance, Ms. Swaraj had assured that poaching by Indian fishermen would be stopped within three months, TNA spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran told the Sunday Times.
Mainly affected by the poaching are fisher folk from the North.
Mr. Sumanthiran said the TNA had raised several issues, including the loss of revenue to the local fishermen and damage caused to marine life. Meanwhile some 15 Indian fishermen and more than 70 vessels are in Sri Lanka’s custody after beingcaught fishing in Sri Lanka’s waters.