Fishing in Sri Lankan waters: International and National perspectives

1 September 2015 06:30 pm Views - 4479

The conflict between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu over fishermen is one that has dragged on for a long time. In the1970s, both the countries agreed on the setting up of a maritime boundary. During the civil war in Sri Lanka, Indian fishermen blatantly violated this border by operating freely in Sri Lankan waters. With the end of the war, the situation changed, and when Sri Lankan fishermen returned to the sea their fishing grounds were being encroached upon by their Indian counterparts and their livelihoods were effected as a result. It is common knowledge that many Indian fishing craft used bottom trawlers to fish in Sri Lankan waters. Identified as an internationally sanctioned, illegal, unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing practice, bottom trawling is banned both in India and Sri Lanka. 

In order to identify the key provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan addressed a gathering on maritime limits and zones, archipelagic status, continental shelf jurisdictions while Attorney-at-Law Chandaka Jayasundere, also speaking on the occasion, pointed out the current legal position with regards to the issue. 


The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
In her opening remarks Dr.Nirmala Chandrahasan pointed out that deep sea fishing cuts down on an essential supply of fish that could be brought back to the island. “While it deprives us of fish, it also causes permanent damage to the ecology since bottom trawlers use multiple nets that scrape the seabed. There are international laws whic h have been drafted concerning the sea. Prior to the 20th century, the oceans had been subject to the freedom of the seas doctrine. This principle, adopted in the 17th century, limited national rights and jurisdiction over a narrow band of water along a nation’s coast, the rest of the sea being free to all and belonging to none. Nearly a century later, the “cannon-shot” rule became the basis for determining how much of the adjacent oceans were under the jurisdiction of a nation. Due to technological advancements fishermen who were once limited to areas near their own coasts, were now equipped with vessels that could allow them to stay at sea for months at a time and capture fish harvests that were far from their native waters.”


Divisions of Ocean Areas
She further stated that one of the most powerful features of UNCLOS is that it settled the question of the extent of national sovereignty over the oceans and seabed.“The baseline is the boundary from which a nation may begin measurements to determine the portion of the adjacent oceans or continental shelf over which it may exercise sovereignty. Internal waters are those that are contained on the landward side of the baseline. These waters fall under the exclusive sovereignty of the nation in which they are contained.”

Article 3 of UNCLOS declares that a nation may establish a territorial sea that extends up to 12 nautical miles from the baselines. Within the territorial sea, a nation has exclusive sovereignty over the water, seabed, and airspace. The treaty establishes that all nations have the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea of another nation and that, outside certain conditions, the nation laying claim to the territorial sea cannot hamper innocent passage of a foreign vessel.


Contiguous Zone and the Exclusive Economic Zone
The Contiguous Zone is a region of the seas measured from the baseline to a distance of 24 nautical miles. Within this region, a nation may exercise the control necessary to prevent the infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea, and punish infringement of those laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea. The Exclusive Economic Zone or “EEZ” is a region that stretches a distance of no more than 200 nautical miles from a nation’s baselines. One of the primary purposes behind establishing the EEZ was to clarify the rights of individual nations to control the fish harvests off their shores. The 200-mile limit established by UNCLOS is not an arbitrary number. It is derived from the fact that the most lucrative fishing grounds lie within 200 nautical miles from the coast as this is where the richest phytoplankton (the basic food of fish) pastures lie. 


Continental shelf
A nation that exploits resources on the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile mark is allowed five years in which to develop and exploit the resources of the shelf without charge. Starting on the sixth year, a nation has to pay 1 percent of the value of the resources produced from the site. The rate of payments increase by 1 percent for each year until the twelfth year and is capped at 7 percent thereafter.The Continental Shelf (CS) is a real, naturally-occurring geological formation. It is a gently sloping undersea plain between the above-water portion of a landmass and the deep ocean. India and Sri Lanka have sovereign rights and exclusive jurisdiction over CS which falls on its side of the boundary. In her concluding remarks Dr.Chandrahasan stated that as alternatives for Sri Lanka, stringent actions could be taken to ban illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters. “As such a request can be made to the Government of India to stop poaching by providing multi-day boats or actions can be taken to sensitize people of Tamil Nadu or provide Indian fishermen a phasing-out period.”


Situation in Sri Lanka
Speaking about the situation in Sri Lanka, Attorney at Law Chandaka Jayasundere, referred to an agreement signed by the two countries which stated that fishing vessels and fishermen of India shall not engage in fishing in the historic, territorial waters of Sri Lanka. “But the situation is quite different today. There are over 5000 mechanised trawlers in Tamil Nadu and 2500 of them come to Sri Lankan waters on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. According to satellite information provided by the Sri Lanka Navy, by 8pm on a Monday one third of their fleet start moving towards the territorial boundary. At around 1am all of them are in Sri Lankan waters and by 4 am they start going back to India. Steps taken to put an end to this issue fluctuate with the political winds. Most of the time those who are caught are arrested and handed over to the Department of Fisheries but they are often remanded citing other reasons such as entering Sri Lanka without a visa. Therefore the actual reasons for illegal fishing is not highlighted. After keeping them behind bars for some time they are released either because of a national day in India or a special pardon or some special case, if they get lucky. In many cases it allows the government to detain vessels and any other amenities brought by the fishermen but none of these laws are effectively enacted in Sri Lanka.”