by Prof. Chanaka Jayawardhena,
Professor of (Chair) of Marketing, University of Surrey, UK.
Chanaka.j@gmail.com

As the new year unfolds, India and Sri Lanka find themselves at a pivotal juncture in their decades-long Palk Bay fishing dispute—a conflict that has simmered for years but now holds the promise of resolution following recent high-level diplomatic engagements. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s recent visit to New Delhi has reignited hopes for resolution. Yet, this is no ordinary diplomatic challenge. The dispute encapsulates complex socio-economic pressures, ecological devastation, and political sensitivities on both sides of the narrow strait separating the two nations.

This moment demands careful diplomacy and a strategic vision. India and Sri Lanka cannot afford piecemeal fixes or short-term palliatives. The stakes—economic livelihoods, biodiversity, and regional stability—are simply too high.

Why This Issue Demands Urgent Attention

The Palk Bay is no pristine paradise. Decades of overfishing, coupled with destructive practices like bottom trawling, have turned what was once a richly biodiverse marine habitat into an increasingly barren seascape. For Sri Lanka, these waters represent a lifeline for communities in the war-ravaged Northern Province, where fishing supports thousands of families and ensures food security. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s fishing communities, reeling from declining catches in domestic waters, see the Palk Bay as their economic lifeblood.

The dispute is exacerbated by starkly divergent pressures. Sri Lanka views incursions by Indian trawlers as ecological sabotage. For India, the political imperative to protect Tamil Nadu’s fishermen frequently overrides environmental and cross-border concerns. It is a delicate dance—where political expediency risks outweighing long-term strategy.

A Window of Opportunity

The time is ripe for change. President Dissanayake’s visit to India signals a willingness to recalibrate relations. But the real test lies in translating good intentions into sustainable solutions. This requires a bold, multi-pronged strategy.

1. Joint Scientific Research and Sustainable Fishing Practices

First, science must lead the way. India and Sri Lanka should establish a joint scientific body tasked with conducting regular stock assessments and mapping biodiversity hotspots. Such initiatives, grounded in transparency, would build trust and guide policy decisions.

Technology offers additional tools. Indonesia’s successful adoption of Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) demonstrates how real-time tracking of fishing vessels can deter illegal activities and enforce compliance with maritime boundaries. Both nations should invest in this technology, ensuring that regulations are not just rules on paper.

But technology alone is not enough. A phased transition away from destructive bottom trawling is imperative. Financial incentives can encourage fishermen to adopt more sustainable gear, such as gillnets or handlines, while Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) could offer a sanctuary for marine life to recover. The Philippines’ Tubbataha Reefs show the transformative potential of MPAs, where fish biomass surged by 200% within five years of protection.

2. Economic Diversification and Alternative Livelihoods

No solution will succeed without addressing the economic realities of fishing communities. Overfishing isn’t just an ecological issue—it’s an economic one, born of desperation and lack of alternatives.

Aquaculture as a Safety Net

Sustainable aquaculture could provide much-needed relief. Initiatives like seaweed farming and cage culture not only offer alternative income sources but also align with environmental goals. Vietnam’s thriving seaweed industry has proven how small-scale farming can lift thousands of families out of poverty while improving water quality. Similarly, Thailand’s adoption of cage farming has boosted local economies without depleting natural ecosystems.

Skills Training for New Horizons

Fishermen should also have pathways to non-fishing livelihoods. Marine tourism offers untapped potential, particularly in the Palk Bay’s biodiverse waters. Dolphin-watching tours, eco-tourism expeditions, or culinary ventures featuring fresh seafood could attract international visitors. Coastal regions in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka are ideally suited for such enterprises.

Meanwhile, training programmes in seafood processing or renewable energy could open doors to entirely new sectors. Tamil Nadu’s burgeoning wind and solar energy industries are already creating jobs, and there’s no reason why coastal communities shouldn’t benefit. Disaster preparedness training and roles in marine conservation could also utilise fishermen’s expertise in navigating the ocean while providing stable incomes.

3. Strengthening Cross-Border Cooperation

Regional disputes often fester in the absence of dialogue. It is essential to strengthen communication channels—not just between governments, but also at the community level.

Regular forums where fishing communities can exchange ideas and grievances could help defuse tensions. Joint patrols to monitor fishing activity and enforce regulations would demonstrate shared commitment and build trust. Malaysia and Thailand’s collaboration in the Gulf of Thailand is a case in point, where harmonised policies and joint training have reduced conflicts and boosted cooperation.

Sri Lanka and India must also think beyond borders when designing their frameworks for cooperation. Cross-border cooperative bodies, modelled on Vietnam’s local fishing cooperatives, could empower communities to take shared responsibility for sustainable practices.

4. Learning from the Region

South Asia and Southeast Asia provide a rich repository of examples for India and Sri Lanka to draw upon. Consider Bangladesh and Myanmar, which resolved disputes in the Bay of Bengal through joint research and a standing dispute resolution committee. Or Indonesia, whose hardline stance against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing—combined with technological enforcement—has drastically reduced violations in its waters.

Vietnam’s decentralised management of its fisheries through cooperatives is another success story. By empowering local communities to enforce regulations and manage resources, Vietnam has achieved both ecological sustainability and economic resilience.

These examples share a common thread: collaboration, whether between nations or within communities, is the cornerstone of lasting solutions.

A Balancing Act for the Future

The Palk Bay fishing dispute is emblematic of a broader challenge facing the region: how to balance rapid economic development with environmental conservation and regional stability. For India, this is an opportunity to demonstrate leadership—not by imposing its will, but by fostering true cooperation. Sri Lanka, for its part, must resist the temptation to view this as a zero-sum game.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Mismanagement risks not only economic devastation for vulnerable communities but also irreparable damage to the marine ecosystems on which they depend. Conversely, a well-managed resolution could turn the Palk Bay into a global model for sustainable fisheries management, enhanced livelihoods, and regional collaboration.

Conclusion

President Dissanayake’s visit offers more than just a diplomatic milestone—it is a call to action. India and Sri Lanka must seize this moment to craft a bold, long-term vision for the Palk Bay. That vision must centre on sustainability, cooperation, and a commitment to balancing economic progress with ecological preservation.

The Palk Bay is more than a body of water. It is a shared resource, a shared responsibility, and a shared future. Let us ensure it becomes a symbol of what we can achieve together, rather than a reminder of what we failed to protect.

(Views expressed in this article are personal.)

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

My mind started wandering from ‘Great Pretenders’ to ‘Lovable Rogues’ after reading Dr Upatissa Pethiyagoda’s response (More about Dr. Anton (Kara) Jayasuriya: The Island, 13 January) to my piece ‘Great Pretenders’ (The Island, 30 December 2024). Being an admirer of Dr Pethiyagoda’s writings, serious consideration being given to whatever topic addressed being his hallmark, I was rather taken aback by his adoration of Kara Jayasuriya. However, I was relieved to find that he did not disagree with my premise as he concluded his piece with: “Dr. Wijewardhana was perhaps right in referring to this bold and talented entrepreneur as a “Pretender”. Nevertheless, ‘Kara’ was an amusing and engaging one, who “beat the system”!”

Reading this I wondered whether ‘lovable rogue’, perhaps, was a more apt description and a quick search led to the following explanation:

“The lovable rogue is a fictional stock character, often from a working-class upbringing, who tends to recklessly defy social norms and social conventions, but who still evokes empathy from the audience or other characters. The lovable rogue is generally male and is often trying to “beat the system” and better himself, though not by ordinary or widely accepted means.”

In fact, that my revised definition is more appropriate is confirmed by the following paragraph in Dr Pethiyagoda’s article:

“But there was a flipside. A large number of Italians who had spent a fortune to become “doctors,” were aggrieved by being refused jobs because the awarding institute was not a recognised one. They looked to our Embassy in Rome for help. Nothing could be done, other than to seek the advice of our University Grants Commission, which, as expected, replied that these qualifications had no validity, as the body concerned was not one accredited to award such degrees.”

Surely, this was a crime and why it was not investigated remains a mystery. Perhaps Anton convinced the authorities that he did not commit a crime!

I am thankful to Dr Pethiyagoda for reiterating the genius of Carlo Fonseka:

“When I inquired about that from the late Prof. Carlo Fonseka, his simple answer was that there was such a rush for Ph. D (Honoris Causa) that the best way to cope with it was to award one to a least deserving and most despicable scoundrel available to deter the more deserving ones who would recoil from being placed in such company. It apparently worked.”

This reminded me of an important fact I had forgotten to mention in my piece, that Anton offered honorary degrees to a number of council members of the Sri Lanka Medical Association. Unsurprisingly, they all refused!

I was also reminded of the greatest of lovable rogues, the biggest conman our country has ever produced; Michael Marion Emil Anacletus Pierre Savundranayagam, better known as Emil Savundra. Although best known for the failure in 1966 of Fire, Auto and Marine (FAM) Insurance Company, which he founded in 1963, that left nearly half a million of UK motorists uninsured, Savundra’s activities as a master con man started way before that.

By his high-profile, flamboyant lifestyle Savundra was able to dupe not only individuals but also governments, as well illustrated in the piece titled “The Savundra Affair: The History of an International Fraud” by Bianca Murillo, Professor of History at California State University, in the website ‘History Workshop’ (https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decolonisation/the-savundra-affair-the-history-of-an-international-fraud/). Ghana had been looking for foreign investors to develop its mining industry and Camp Bird, a company in which Savundra was a director, got involved and in fact, he had moved with his family to Accra. Prof Murillo starts her article as follows:

“On December 10, 1958, the Government of Ghana issued an urgent statement denying the claim that it had granted Camp Bird Ltd., a London-based mining and finance company, all rights to future mineral extraction in Ghana. This was a direct response to Camp Bird’s announcement in The Financial Times that Ghana’s government would not only hand over future mineral rights, but allow the company to collect ten percent of the proceeds from all existing mining firms for the next fifty years. At the time, Ghana’s income from minerals, including copper, gold, and aluminium was around £30 million a year and thus, in theory, Camp Bird would collect £3 million annually. The 1958 mineral rights dispute and its aftermath became known as the Savundra Affair. This shook Ghanaian politics and headlines splashed across the international media. Investigations raged from London to Colombo and involved government officials, bank managers, lawyers, accountants, journalists, angry shareholders, Interpol, and the Ghanaian police.”

The government of Ghana, headed by anti-colonialist Kwame Nkrumah, had been persuaded by Savundra to consider the proposal, initially, though he escaped before a deportation order could be executed, following the detection of fraud.

Savundra’s early business exploits started soon after Ceylon gained independence in 1948. During the Korean War, Savundra was used as a local intermediary in an act of economic sabotage; a shipload of oil which he appeared to be selling to the Chinese government though his American contacts had ensured did not exist!   In 1954, at age 31, Savundra was convicted of swindling the Kredietbank of Antwerp over an eight thousand tonne “phantom rice shipment” that never arrived in Portuguese Goa and was imprisoned in Belgium for fraud. However, he served only two months of the five-year sentence. His only crime in Ceylon was not paying tax due on his earnings made by economic frauds.

A less well-known fact is that Savundra was involved in the notorious ‘Profumo Affair’ as well, a scandal which led to the resignation of PM Harold Macmillan in 1963, though Macmillan gave illness as an excuse. One of the pursuits in his lavish life-style was powerboat racing and during one of these events, Savundra had a fracture of spine and had been referred by one of his friends to Stephen Ward, the high-society osteopath, who was one of the major players in that saga. Through ward, Savundra got involved with Christine Keeler, who had affairs with John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, as well as Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché, raising the possibility of breaching national security. As the people involved were of much higher profile, Savundra escaped mention but was referred to as ‘the Indian Doctor’, though he was neither Indian nor a doctor, in the trial of Ward for immorality offences.

After the FAM insurance collapse, the British Press dubbed Savundra “the Prince of Conmen” and his behaviour in the interview with legendary TV talk-show host David Frost, made him a hate-figure. He called the audience, which consisted of some of his victims too, ‘peasants’ and showed no remorse for all his wrongdoings. He was jailed for eight years for the insurance fraud and died two years after release, at the age of 53.

Savundra, who led a flamboyant life and had close connections with the Catholic church, was a master conman and, no doubt, tops the league as a lovable rogue.

The Public Utilities Commission has ordered the Electricity Board to issue PRINTED BILLS to consumers, rather than SMS bills (Island 21 Jan.)

The use of SMS as a means of billing ensures that the customer loses track of his Bills/Payments, in a very short time. It will become impossible to dispute an incorrect charge, after a few months. If consumers had the Financial Resources to challenge this ARBITRARY move the CEB would probably win in court.

Issue of paper bills should be MANDATORY if requested by consumers.

The country’s Privately Owned Banks are another culprit! Banks pretend to be avoiding the Paper Bill due to a hypocritical “Concert for the Environment”. In truth they are only interested in boosting their already massive PROFITS, and not the felling of trees for paper manufacture. In Sri Lanka there is no shortage of raw material for paper.

JAYMAN