New dawn in the Palk Bay - Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen

By V VIVEKANANDAN

I would like to share with you an initiative that I am currently pre-occupied with. It is the forthcoming dialogue between Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen. This dialogue, if successful, could provide useful ideas for resolving the long standing problem of trans-border fishing in the Palk Bay.

One of the many hats I wear is that of the Convener of ARIF (Alliance for Release of Innocent Fishermen). ARIF started life in 1997 as a network of Central Trade Unions, some NGOs and some Tamil Nadu fishermen associations, with SIFFS as the secretariat. Its main objective is to find a solution to the problems associated with trans-border fishing on the Indo-Sri Lankan maritime boundary. The term “innocent” only means that we have sympathy for all fishermen who are not guilty of any offence other than fishing across borders!

Very soon after getting involved, I realised it was essentially a fisheries management problem, obscured by the civil war and the geo-politics associated with it. This also meant that a solution was difficult as long as there was a civil war. ARIF therefore settled down to the rather tedious job of providing assistance to virtually every fisherman arrested for crossing borders in both countries. Jail visits, buying cigarettes, lungis, etc., was one routine set of activities. Following up cases in the courts was another. Lobbying with the various Govt offices to withdraw the case and release fishermen was probably the most important part of the work. We built up linkages in Sri Lanka to help us get the Indian fishermen and boats released. Often Governments on both sides were happy to release fishermen into our custody till they could be repatriated. However, our reach was limited and did not include Sri Lankan fishermen arrested in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa or the Andamans.

An opportunity to find a solution came up in 2004 when there was truce between the Govt of Sri Lanka and the LTTE and the peace talks brokered by Norway. With Sri Lankan fishermen of the Northern Province starting normal fishing, the nature of the conflict changed from that of Indian fishermen vs. the Sri Lankan Navy to that of Indian fishermen vs. Sri Lankan fishermen. With both sides having a common language and long history of close contacts (and marriage links), the idea for a dialogue between the fishermen on both sides of the Palk Bay was mooted by Tamil political leaders on the Sri Lankan side.

This resulted in a “Goodwill Mission” by a 21-member fishermen team, including myself, visiting Sri Lanka in May 2004 and conducting a dialogue with Sri Lankan fishermen in Colombo. Though an interesting agreement came out of the meeting, it could not bear fruit due to many difficulties. The tsunami and the revival of the civil war put an end to that episode.

With the end of the civil war in May 2009, the fishermen vs. fishermen scenario resumed. So, the idea of resuming the fishermen to fishermen dialogue has come up again. Though we had started planning for this in October 2009 itself, it is only now that our efforts have become successful.

It appears that this initiative has not come a day too soon. Last month, two Indian trawlers were sunk by irate Sri Lankan fishermen using petrol-bombs after asking the fishermen in the boat to disembark. Meanwhile, one Indian fisherman from Nagapattinam died in an incident of Sri Lankan Navy brutality. In Sri Lanka, a group of small trawlers in Mannar and Jaffna that have been prevented from fishing through a ban by both community and fisheries department, have been threatening to start fishing if the Indian trawlers are not stopped from fishing in Sri Lankan waters.

A 25-member Sri Lankan fishermen delegation is arriving in Trichy on the 16^th August and will be in Tamil Nadu till 23^rd Aug. The team will visit Rameswaram, Jagadapattinam and Nagapattinam before ending up in Madras for a three day meeting with fishermen representatives from the four Palk Bay districts of Tamil Nadu. The meeting is expected to come up with some short term solutions as well as long term ones (like the reduction of the trawl fleet). Obviously, the Governments have to then be influenced to accept the fishermen solution.

In 2004, the two Governments did not take us seriously. Still we managed to get junior officials from the Sri Lankan fisheries Department and the India High Commission as observers. This time around, the response from the two Governments has been very encouraging. There seems to be even excitement about it in Govt circles. The Fisheries Department of Sri Lanka is sending two senior officials as part of the 25 member delegation. The Tamil Nadu Fisheries Dept is sending three officers to the dialogue in Madras as “observers”.

For the final session of the Madras meeting, the DG Fisheries of Sri Lanka will himself come down to receive the recommendations on behalf of the Sri Lanka Govt. In fact, the Minister himself had wished to participate but had to pull out at due to new commitments. From the Tamil Nadu side, we are hopeful that the Fisheries Minister himself will participate. Fortunately for us the new Fisheries Secretary had encouraged the Goodwill Mission in 2004, when she was the Director of Fisheries. So, we expect good support from the Fisheries Department.

 ARIF Proposals for solving the problem

While the long term solution that emerges should be on the basis of agreements by fishermen and Governments, the following are some of the proposals from ARIF that are feasible and somewhat acceptable to the fishermen.

• Reduction of the trawl fleet on the Indian side of Palk Bay on the basis of appropriate studies and schemes to provide alternative employment or compensation to trawl owners and workers
• Allowing vessels on both sides that use eco-friendly/traditional/small scale fishing methods to fish across the borders, given the limited area of the Palk Bay and the impracticability of fishing in a very narrow area on either side. Management measures will have to be devised that will ensure that the Palk Bay is not overfished and the sharing of the resources by the two fleets are equitable. Security concerns will also have to be addressed.
• Licensing of the Sri Lankan multi-day fishing vessels by India, legalising their operations in Indian waters; number of licences could be limited or quotas fixed for exploiting tuna in Indian waters. Possibility of Joint Ventures between fishermen on both sides could also be promoted as alternative to industrial vessels India has been trying to introduce in its EEZ for deep sea fishing
• While both the Palk Bay problem and the problem of the Sri Lankan multiday fishing boats needs to be tackled, they also need to be handled separately in view of the differences in the actors involved. This proposal essentially deals with the strategy and set of activities to deal with the Palk Bay problem. ARIF intends to work out a separate strategy for the problem of multi-day fishing boats, once Palk Bay initiative gets underway.

A road map for solving the problem in the Palk Bay

The following are the important steps in finding a solution.

1. Dialogue between fishermen on both sides of the Palk Bay and reaching some understanding on the principles behind a solution and the various options available. To come up with both short term and long term solutions.
2. Sensitising the relevant Govt departments, key officials and key political leaders on the issue in both states. Pressing the two Governments to agree to work for a solution on the lines proposed by the fishermen.
3. National level policy dialogues between fishermen and Govt to work out the position of each country on this matter and the kind of changes that have to be made in each country.
4. Govts on both sides to take up formal dialogue and come to an agreement based on the previous steps. At this stage, the role of the fishermen associations and NGOs will depend upon the need felt by the respective Govts to involve them.

Can the fishermen come up with a creative solution that has been eluding the two Governments so far? Will this lead to a new dawn in the Palk Bay? In a fortnight from now, the Madras meeting will surely have some answers.