Bottom-trawling must end in the interest of fishermen of Sri Lanka and India: C.V. Wigneswaran

Former Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council C.V. Wigneswaran writes to Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, urging him to act on ending the harmful fishing practice

Ending the destructive bottom-trawling method of fishing would safeguard the livelihoods of ordinary fishermen in Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka, former Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council C.V. Wigneswaran has said, urging Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to act on the long-persisting problem.

In a letter to Mr. Stalin, shared by Mr. Wigneswaran’s office with the media on Thursday [February 27, 2025], the former CM, former Jaffna parliamentarian, and retired Supreme Court judge said bottom trawling — which virtually scoops out fish, shrimps, eggs, other marine organisms from the seabed — had already severely impacted the marine resources along the Tamil Nadu coast. Recalling his engagement on the matter while in office, Mr. Wigneswaran said it was clear that if the fishing practice continued, the resources along Sri Lanka’s coastlines would be “completely wiped out”.

Bottom trawling by Indian fishermen must stop: Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Minister

Since January 2025, the Sri Lankan Navy has arrested over 100 Indian fishermen on charges of illegal fishing in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. Last weekend, 32 fishermen from Rameswaram were arrested, while five boats were seized, prompting Tamil Nadu fishermen to go on a strike.

For many years now, war-affected Tamil fishermen in northern fishermen have been flagging a depleting catch, owing to overfishing by Indian trawlers. Further, the trawl boats frequently damage Sri Lankan fishermen’s modest fishing gear and nets, bought with their sole savings.

Along the Tamil Nadu coast, especially in Rameswaram and Nagapattinam, thousands of registered fishing boats are used for bottom-trawling, including in the Palk Bay. The owners of these expensive fishing vessels engage daily-wage fishermen to go on the boats and bring back the catch, to which their day’s earnings are tied.

Sri Lanka banned bottom trawling in 2017 but in some fishing hamlets a few, relatively well-off fishermen continue to use trawl boats to maximise their catch and profits, often sparking local conflicts. “I am aware that many of the owners of bottom trawlers in both our countries are politically well connected. But I think there could be a way to end this problem without affecting their business, in the interest of poverty-stricken fisherfolk on both sides,” Mr. Wigneswaran said, urging Mr. Stalin to work with New Delhi on the issue.

It is nearly a decade since the governments of India and Sri Lanka agreed to jointly address the Paly Bay fishing conflict, with a commitment to “expediting the transition towards ending the practice of bottom trawling at the earliest”. However, little has changed since, according to northern Sri Lankan fishermen, whose livelihoods have faced further setbacks in the post-war years, during the pandemic and in the wake of Sri Lanka’s crushing economic meltdown.   In 2022, northern Sri Lankan fishermen wrote to Mr. Stalin, seeking a “progressive” solution to the fisheries conflict that affects fisherfolk in Tamil Nadu and war-hit northern Sri Lanka, and “threatens the historically strong relationship” shared by the two Tamil communities. 

Issue taken up in Sri Lankan parliament

Meanwhile, Vanni district MP Thurairasa Ravikaran of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) recently moved an adjournment motion in the Sri Lankan Parliament, urging the Anura Kumara Dissanayake administration to take steps to end illegal fishing. The motion was seconded by his party colleague and Batticaloa MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, who said that many from Sri Lanka’s northern fishing community voted for the ruling National People’s Power in the 2024 parliamentary polls, in the hope that it would decisively end illegal fishing. The MPs did not name India, but made a general observation on illegal fishing, including by Sri Lankan fishermen.

On Thursday [February 27, 2025], a group of northern fishermen from the islands of Delft, Nainathivu, Eluvaithivu, Mandaithivu, Kayts and Punkudithivu staged a protest in Jaffna, opposing the illegal mechanised bottom trawling by Indian fishermen in their sea, the Sunday Times reported.

Published - February 28, 2025 11:07 am IST