Indo-Lanka fishing talks in troubled waters

A visiting Indian expert who works with the rural fisherfolk community in South India met with Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda this week on the ongoing issue of Indian fishermen engaging in illegal bottom trawling in the Lankan territorial sea.

V. Vivekanandan currently serves as the Director of the South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS), a start-up that works closely with rural fisherfolk communities in this region.

With the minister reiterating his stand of not allowing Indian fisherfolk to engage in fishing in Lankan waters using illegal fishing methods, Mr Vivenkanandan observed that “No one in Tamil Nadu can publicly say that Indian fisherfolk are entering into Lankan waters for fishing illegally.”

He also noted that some groups are linking up the Katchathivu islet issue with so-called fishing rights of Indian fisherfolk for political reasons, and it had nothing to do with the ongoing issue of mass scale fishing by Indian fisherfolk using illegal methods.