India- Sri Lanka Fishermen Issue

Context

Recently, the Sri Lankan Navy has seized eight Indian fishing vessels and arrested 55 fishermen on the charge of poaching.

• The arrests were made in seas South of Mannar in the Sri Lankan waters.

What is the issue?

• As in the past, fishermen from Rameshwaram and nearby coasts continue to sail towards Talaimannar and Katchatheevu coasts, a region famous for rich maritime resources in Sri Lanka.
• Indian boats have been fishing in the troubled waters for centuries and had a free run of the Bay of Bengal, the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar until 1974 and 1976.
• Treaties were later signed between the two countries to demarcate the maritime boundary — the ‘International Maritime Boundary Line'(IMBL).
  
  

Background

• The Palk Bay area has been used by both Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen for centuries. However, problems emerged after the India-Sri Lanka only after 1974 and 1976. 
• The 1974 agreement did not substantially affect fishing though India had ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka out of goodwill gesture.
• But in 1976 via an exchange of letters, both the countries stopped fishing into each other's waters. However, since fishermen know no boundary.
• The agreement could not stop the fishermen from fishing in these waters, because they ignore the boundaries and go wherever they can get the maximum number of catches.
  • Thus, knowingly or unknowingly, the International Maritime Boundary Line is violated, often resulting in arrests of Indian / Sri Lankan fishermen or shootouts.
• Despite the signing of maritime boundary agreements, fishermen communities of both the countries continued their fishing in the Palk Bay area peacefully until the Eelam war broke out in 1983.
• Nonetheless, after the end of War in 2009, the Sri Lankan fishermen have been raising their objection to Indian fishermen fishing in their waters.