Dont legitimise fish theft!

Editorial-November 4, 2013, 7:51 pm

Illegal fishing by Indians in Sri Lankan waters continues unabated. There have also been several instances of Sri Lankan fishers committing the same offence in Indian waters; 16 of them have recently been taken into custody. Everybody e !resses concern about this seemingly intractable !roblem but nobody seems to be doing anything about it. The Indian Su!reme "ourt has asked whether it is !ossible for the Tamil #adu fishermen sailing in the $alk Straits to know when to sto! so that they do not enter Sri Lankan waters. The learned %udges have asked a very !ertinent &uestion in that some of the Indian fishers cross the maritime boundary unknowingly and get into hot water in the !rocess. India has made vast strides in science and technology and even designed a low'cost tablet $" for students while making grand !re!arations for an ambitious( multi'billion ru!ee )ars mission. Therefore( !roviding the Tamil #adu fishermen with *$S facility to hel! them avoid straying into Sri Lankan waters cannot be a big !roblem for India. The same goes for Sri Lankan fishermen who must also be e&ui!!ed technologically to avoid trouble. +owever( the general consensus in this country is that most Indian vessels are engaged in !oaching at the behest of anti'Sri Lankan !oliticians in Tamil #adu. #othing is more absurd and ludicrous than the alleged re&uest that Tamil #adu fishers be !ermitted to !oach in Sri Lankan waters at least one day a week. This( in our book( smacks of a move to legitimise theft. The Indian fishing fleet is notorious for using banned methods like bottom trawling and( given the sheer number of Tamil #adu !oachers( a single day !er week will be enough for them to harvest fish in such a way that Sri Lankans will be left with nothing to catch for the ne t si days. The newly'elected #orthern $rovincial "ouncil should abandon its ostrich'like !osture and gras! the nettle. It must take u! the cudgels for #orthern fishers on their beam ends and threatened with loss of livelihood. ,ut of des!eration they have even resorted to direct action on several occasions during the last few years to hold Tamil #adu !oachers at bay( but in vain. -ill India seek to enter into such an agreement with any other country. Legitimising an offence is certainly not the way to tackle it. The Euro!ean /nion had no &ualms about scra!!ing Sri Lanka0s *S$ $lus facility !ur!ortedly in !rotest against human rights violations among other things des!ite the fact that its action was fraught with the danger of causing thousands of !oor Sri Lankan workers in the e !ort sector to lose their %obs. Therefore( there is no reason why the E/ should continue to drag its feet on

!oaching by Tamil #adu fishermen in Sri Lankan waters with the hel! of illegal methods; it ought not to baulk at boycotting the illegally caught fish. The !urchase of anything stolen is an offence as is only too well known to the E/( which !ontificates to other countries on good trading !ractices. It should sto! aiding and abetting the thieves of fish by !urchasing their loot. Tamil #adu "hief )inister 1. 1ayalalithaa wee!s buckets for the Sri Lankan Tamils( who( no doubt( have their !roblems which need to be addressed. 2ut( she as well as other Sri Lanka bashers has shamelessly sided with those engaged in illegal fishing at the e !ense of northern fishers struggling to rebuild their lives. Small countries must not be bullied into facilitating the !lunder of their resources by big neighbours.

Two Tamil Nadu fishermen drown as Sri Lanka navy chases boat
PTI | Nov 5, 2 !", #$%&S'$#$% (TN)* Two fishermen drowned and three others were in+ured when their boat ca,si-ed while bein. chased alle.edly by Sri Lankan naval vessels off this coastal town/ Thirty others were arrested for re,ortedly crossin. the International %artime 0oundary Line, officials said/ The in+ured fishermen told fisheries de,artment officials on their return that some of their boats were dama.ed after the naval ,ersonnel ,elted stones at the vessels and hurled wooden lo.s/ They also cut the fishin. nets of all the boats/ The naval ,ersonnel arrested " fishermen and sei-ed seven boats, they said/