India allowing its fishermen to violate Lankan waters is a clear violation of international law

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Neither the Indian Central Government nor the Tamil Nadu state government could escape responsibility for Indian fishermen violating a maritime boundary agreement with Sri Lanka, Senior Lecturer M.A.M. Hakeem from the Department of Public & International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo said in a recent televised interview.

Hakeem highlighted that approximately 5,000 fishing trawlers registered with Tamil Nadu used illegal bottom trawling method, with half of them encroaching into Sri Lankan territorial waters three days a week. “On beaches in northern Sri Lanka, one can see many Indian vessels operating alarmingly close to our shores. This issue goes beyond just the Sri Lankan fishing industry,” he said.

Hakeem said that there was an agreement between Sri Lanka and India about the maritime boundary and this agreement is breached when thousands of Indian vessels operate in our territorial waters.

In the first few decades, following independence, Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen had operated without boundary restrictions, he said. However, agreements signed in 1974 and 1976 had demarcated sea boundaries, Hakeem said. The 1974 Agreement was regarding historic waters between Sri Lanka and India in the Palk Strait and Palk Bay. This agreement also formally confirmed Sri Lanka’s sovereignty over the Kachchativu Island.

An Agreement between Sri Lanka and India on the Maritime Boundary between the two countries in the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal and related matters was signed in 1976, he said.

The Agreement says, “Each party shall have sovereign rights and exclusive jurisdiction over the Continental Shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as well as over their resources, whether living or non-living, falling on its side of the aforesaid boundary … each Party shall respect rights of navigation through its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone in accordance with its laws and regulations and the rules of international law.”

 The 1974 and 1976 Agreements, taken together with the Exchange of Letters, igned between Kewal Singh, the then Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, and W.T. Jayasinghe, then Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, has cleared doubts. Paragraph 1 of the Exchange of Letters very clearly rules out any fishing rights for the fishermen of the two States in the waters of the other state which reads as follows; “fishing vessels and fishermen of India shall not engage in fishing in the historic waters, the territorial sea and the EEZ of Sri Lanka, nor shall the fishing vessels and fishermen of Sri Lanka engage in fishing in the historic waters, the territorial sea and the EEZ of India, without the express permission of Sri Lanka or India, as the case may be.”

While Indians lost access to Sri Lankan waters, local fishermen lost access to Pedro Bank, and Wadge Bank, the continental shelves off Cape Comorin at the southern tip of India, which had been profitable commercial fishing grounds since the 1920s for both Indian and Sri Lankan boats.

Hakeem said, “We have an agreement, and it is the responsibility of the Indian government to enforce it. Why does India take no action when its fishermen violate an international agreement? Neither the Indian Central Government nor the Tamil Nadu state government can evade responsibility for this.” He pointed out that the principle, ‘Pacta sunt servanda’, adictatesd that treaties were binding on the parties that entered them. “India has given Sri Lanka a commitment and is responsible for preventing its fishermen from entering Sri Lankan waters,” he added.

Hakeem highlighted a second issue—the ecological damage caused by Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters and using illegal methods like bottom trawling. So far this year, the Sri Lankan navy has seized over 45 such trawlers. Reports suggest that bottom trawling has depleted fishing resources off South India, making this practice unsustainable. “If poaching Indian trawlers aren’t stopped, the seas off Northern Sri Lanka could become barren within the next five to ten years,” he warned.

Hakeem urged that the issue also needed to be viewed from a socio-economic perspective, as many Sri Lankan fishermen rely on the northern sea’s resources. “Our fishermen are not receiving equal protection under both local and international law. We have ratified the agreement with India as domestic law, and we must uphold the fundamental rights of our fishermen. Our government bears responsibility for this,” he said.

He further said that Indian fishermen are extracting resources that rightfully belong to Sri Lanka, though the economic losses to Sri Lanka remain uncalculated. “All we know is that they are colossal,” he said. Additionally, Hakeem highlighted the national security threat posed by these poaching activities, as Indian fishermen currently enter and exit Sri Lankan waters at will.

The Law Faculty Senior Lecturer also said that the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries met earlier this week, during which the Indian side pressed for the swift release of detained Indian fishermen and their boats. In a press release, the Indian High Commission expressed concern over increasing detentions and fines and emphasised the need to uphold established understandings regarding fishing issues.

“Tamil Nadu fishermen still believe they have the right to fish in our waters. However, any such claim must be recognised under international law. The agreements signed in the 1970s revoked these rights,” he said.