Political economy of fisheries : unsustainability and the need for de-intensification of production in the Rameswaram region

Abstract

Since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009, it has been a weekly practise for fishermen from Rameswaram and the surrounding areas to be detained or killed by the Sri Lankan Navy for indulging in cross-border fishing. The majority of this cross-border cooperation occurs in order to collect marine resources from Sri Lankan waters. It's worth noting that cross-border fishing boats are mostly mechanised bottom trawlers that hunt fish for export markets, and the lack of fish in Indian waters is frequently cited as the main reason for them having to go to Sri Lankan waters to make a profit on their capital, fuel, and labour investments. While this is true for mechanical fishermen, artisanal fishermen, who mostly engage in near-shore fishing and have less capital, have been vocal in their condemnation of their mechanised counterparts and the use of bottom trawlers on the Indian side. Not unexpectedly, the impact of Indian bottom trawlers on Sri Lankan waters is also the reason for their navy capturing our fishermen and vessels as they try to defend their already overburdened artisanal fisheries sector.

Rather than blaming Sri Lanka for detaining Tamil Nadu fishermen, or vilifying mechanised fishermen for depleting fish stocks and endangering the livelihoods of their artisanal counterparts, the author examines what the Union government and the State of Tamil Nadu have done on a policy level to manage the state's fisheries resources. The author of this paper highlights the impossibility of continuous fish production intensification in the Rameswaram region, and asks for an alternative approach that is tailored to the region's geographical, geopolitical, and socioeconomic constraints.