By Camelia Nathaniel- Sunday, January 12, 2014
With 49% seafood processing facilities and registered export processing facilities in India located in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which depends largely on fish from disputed waters, Indian trawlers continue encroaching on Sri Lankan territorial waters, causing losses in excess of US$ 59.18 million annually to Sri Lanka.
Fishermen from Sri Lanka and neighbouring India, who both share the Indian Ocean, have a history of fishing illegally from each other’s territorial waters. During the war however, these Northern waters were out of bound to fisherman from both countries. Now that the war is over these waters are open to fishing, and the abundance of aquatic resources are attracting fisherman from both countries.