The Communist Party of Sri Lanka has urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to take immediate steps on the long-standing problem of Indian fishing trawlers entering Sri Lankan waters and damaging the livelihoods of fishermen in the Jaffna district.
In a letter to the President, CPSL General Secretary Dr. G. Weerasinghe said the issue had been raised during discussions with fishing community leaders in Jaffna held as part of the party’s 83rd anniversary events, the Daily Mirror reported.
The party said high-powered Indian trawlers fitted with bottom-trawling gear were entering Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone and engaging in destructive fishing, causing serious damage to marine resources and to local fishing activity.
The arrival of large numbers of such vessels, with powerful engines and iron hulls, had created difficulties for traditional fishermen working from wooden boats, according to the letter. Fishing nets belonging to local communities were frequently damaged or destroyed as a result.
The CPSL said the problem was not confined to the economic losses borne by fishermen but also threatened the sustainability of marine ecosystems.
“These destructive and illegal fishing practices are damaging the biological activities of the seabed and could lead to the depletion of future fish stocks,” the party said.
Bottom trawling — dragging weighted nets across the seabed — is banned in Sri Lankan waters. The practice by Indian vessels crossing the maritime boundary in the Palk Strait has been a recurring source of friction between the two countries and a persistent grievance among northern fishing communities, whose fleets were largely rebuilt after the end of the civil war.
