Why In News ?

Sri Lankan ban on bottom trawling,to prevent the state’s fishermen from exercising traditional fishing rights in the Palk Bay.

What is the concern ?

The Sri Lankan assembly amended the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act. As per the new rule, a fine of 50,000 Lankan rupees (LKR ) will be imposed along with imprisonment of up to two years on those found guilty of bottom trawling.  Rule is expected to affect a section of fishermen from Tamil Nadu which engages in bottom trawling.

What is Bottom trawling

Bottom trawling is an industrial fishing method where a large net with heavy weights is dragged across the seafloor, scooping up everything in its path from the targeted fish to the incidentally caught centuries-old corals. Bottom trawling is unselective and severely damaging to seafloor ecosystems. The net indiscriminately catches every life and object it encounters. Thus, many creatures end up mistakenly caught and thrown overboard dead or dying, including endangered fish and even vulnerable deep-sea corals which can live for several hundred years.

Some fishermen from Tamil Nadu use this method of fishing, a section of fishermen from the northern Sri Lanka also engage in bottom trawling.

Source : The Hindu

GS II : India and its neighborhood- relations