Sri Lanka top court hears rights petition against Indian fishermen

Supreme Court in Colombo addresses illegal bottom trawling by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters, affecting local fishermen.

The Supreme Court in Colombo yesterday had moved that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs be made a respondent in the fundamental rights petition filed against illegal bottom trawling carried out by the south Indian fishermen in the Sri Lanka waters in the north and northeastern seas.

Sri Lankan fishermen have asked authorities to prevent Indian fishermen from engaging in illegal bottom trawling in the island nation's territorial waters and to direct the Air Force to prevent incursions by Indian trawlers.

Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other's waters.

The Sri Lanka Navy has so far held 23 Indian trawlers and 178 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in the island nation's waters thus far in 2024, and handed them over to authorities for legal action, the Sri Lankan Navy said in a statement in February.

Meanwhile, the Center for Environmental Justice (CEJ) filed a petition in December last year along with the affected fishermen from the northern and northeastern regions of Jaffna and Mannar against illegal bottom trawling carried out by the Indian fishermen in the Sri Lanka waters in the north and northeastern seas.

A three-member Supreme Court Bench had its first hearing on the issue on Monday.

The petitioners pleaded in court that around 50,000 local fishermen have been affected by illegal fishing in the Sri Lankan waters by their Indian counterparts. They estimate an annual loss to Sri Lanka in the region of SLR 4-7 billion in addition to the environmental damage caused due to bottom trawling.