The Centre on Monday informed the Madras High Court that though it had proposed to conduct the sixth meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries in November or December last year, the proposal did not fructify due to internal issues in the island nation.
The Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying told the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was taking steps to hold the meeting at the earliest possible date.
The submissions were made in a counter-affidavit filed in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Fishermen Care, a private organisation, complaining about frequent arrest of fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy and the damage caused to their boats.
Filing the counter on behalf of the Fisheries Ministry, A. Tibertius, Zonal Director, Fishery Survey of India, Chennai, said that a ministerial-level meeting between India and Sri Lanka was held in New Delhi on November 5, 2016 to find a permanent solution to long-pending issues between the fishermen of the two nations.
The JWG at the secretarial level was set up as per the decisions taken in the ministerial meeting. It was also decided that the ministerial-level meeting would be held once in six months, and that a hotline would be set up between the coast guards of the two countries.
Pursuant to those decisions, two rounds of ministerial-level talks were held on January 2, 2017 in Colombo and on October 14, 2017 in New Delhi. Further, the secretarial-level JWG, too, met on five occasions, and the last meeting was hosted by Sri Lanka virtually on March 25, 2022.
Listing the major issues discussed by the JWG, the Fisheries Ministry said that they included cooperation in patrolling and prevention of incidents at sea; safe passage for Sri Lankan fishermen to the Arabian Sea through the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone; and the status of the hotline between the two coast guards.
Investigation into the death of fishermen; status of apprehended fishermen and their seized vessels; naval patrolling by both countries in the Palk Strait as well as the Gulf of Mannar and adjoining areas; and environmental damage caused due to bottom-trawling were also part of the JWG’s mandate.
“During the meetings, the Indian side requested the Sri Lankan side to expedite the release and return of seized fishing boats on humanitarian grounds as they are the only livelihood source of the fishermen,” the Ministry and, and listed other measures taken by the Centre for the welfare of fishermen.
It was brought to the notice of the court that the Centre had released ₹300 crore to the Government of Tamil Nadu during 2017-18 for providing assistance to traditional fishers of the State in the procurement of 750 deep-sea fishing vessels which could replace the trawlers from the Palk Bay area.
Money was also allocated for the construction of a fish landing centre at Kunthukal in Rameswaram to promote deep-sea fishing. Further, the Indian Coast Guard had been regularly discouraging Indian fishermen from crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line, the Centre said. After taking the counter affidavit on file, the judges adjourned the PIL petition to June 11 for further hearing.