Not just Wadge Bank: There's more to Katchatheevu pact than meets the eye

Despite advantages India gained from the 1974 and 1976 agreements with Sri Lanka, New Delhi recognising Katchatheevu as belonging to Colombo has been an emotive issue for Tamil Nadu's fishermen

Reopening issues covered by the maritime boundary agreements India concluded with Sri Lanka in the 1970s could be inadvisable because they broadly favour New Delhi, including giving it the larger share of the Palk Bay, despite the then government's miscalculation in not taking Tamil Nadu's fishing community onboard and the fact that these pacts recognise Katchatheevu as Sri Lanka's. 

The India-Sri Lanka international maritime boundary line (IMBL) was delineated by a 1974 agreement demarcating it in the Palk Strait and another 1976 agreement demarcating it in the Gulf of Mannar and Bay of Bengal.   

India got more out of the Palk Bay than Sri Lanka did 

While the 1974 agreement conceded the island of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka, this does not mean that India lost out in the process, says a 2018 article in the India Quarterly, a publication of the Indian Council of World Affairs. 

 

In the article, scholars N Manoharan and Madhumati Deshpande explain that one of the significant gains emerging from the agreement is that it split the area in the Palk Bay – consisting of 2,100 square nautical miles – between India and Sri Lanka in a ratio of 1.02:1 in favour of India. Put simply, New Delhi got 0.02 units more than the equal share.

The 1974 Agreement also had two clauses that were meant to protect the interests of Indian fishermen. Article 5 allowed them the continuing use of Katchatheevu for drying nets and fish and for pilgrimage. Meanwhile, Article 6 allowed the free movement of vessels in the Palk Bay as before. 

However, allowance for fishing was not explicitly mentioned, which was the genesis of the Tamil Nadu fishing community's troubles with Katchatheevu. 

It was the 1976 Agreement that explicitly barred Indian fishermen from fishing in Sri Lankan waters. 

India got ownership over Wadge Bank 

The 1976 India-Sri Lanka agreement on the maritime boundary between the two in the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal clearly recognises that the Wadge Bank, located near Cape Comorin, falls within India's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

It states that India "shall have sovereign rights over the area and its resources". 

Under the pact, Sri Lankan fishermen and vessels cannot fish in the Wadge Bank at present. 

The pact also opened up India's right to explore the Wadge Bank for petroleum and other mineral resources. 

Recently, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas took the initial steps towards the exploration of oil in the Wadge Bank, leading to objections from residents of Kanyakumari.

The 1976 agreement had allowed Sri Lankan fishermen to engage in their trade in the Wadge Bank for only a three-year period. And only six Sri Lankan vessels would be licensed to catch 2,000 tonnes of fish each year. 

This was to be followed by an additional five-year grace period, during which time India would sell 2,000 tonnes of fish each year to Sri Lanka at a mutually-agreed price. 

"The agreement on the boundary in historical waters between India and Sri Lanka and related matters was concluded in June 1974 after careful consideration. It placed Katchatheevu on the Sri Lankan side of the IMBL, but it also paved the way for a series of other agreements clarifying and confirming the maritime boundary with Sri Lanka, including the understanding of March 1976 which recognised India's sovereign rights over the Wadge Bank and its rich resources, as also a separate agreement on the trijunction point with the Maldives," explains Ashok K Kantha, former High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka. 

Kantha stresses, "The 1974 agreement was the basis for these subsequent accords, which were key building blocks in our relations with Sri Lanka and the Maldives." 

Wadge Bank, which lies to the south of Kanyakumari, refers to an area, including the continental shelf, that provides deep-sea fishing grounds while also being rich in other resources.

Estimates about the area covered by the Bank vary. According to a 1957 study published by Sri Lanka's Fisheries Research Station, the Wadge Bank covers 3,000 square miles. The study also highlights that at least till the late 50s, the Wadge Bank had been home to one of the "world's few successful tropical trawl fisheries" for a number of years.   

On the other hand, the Fishery Survey of India says that the Wadge Bank comprises an area of 4,000 square miles. By contrast, Katchatheevu is a 285-acre uninhabited island in the Palk Bay. 

Before the 1976 agreement, fishermen from Sri Lanka had been engaged in commercial fishing in the Wadge Bank using trawlers since at least the 1920s. 

A 1987 report by India's Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute said that between May and October, the Wadge Bank was a "rich fishing ground" with weather conditions that "foreign skippers (ship's captain)" found more favourable to fishing than those in European waters.   

Govts come and go, not national interest   

There has been speculation that the original intent behind letting Sri Lanka have Katchatheevu could have been to befriend its government, in a bid to secure the Indian Ocean Region in the wake of the wars with China and Pakistan in 1962 and 71, respectively. 

"In the 1970s, the global and regional context was the Cold war. The first communist insurgency in Sri Lanka happened in 1971 and India was instrumental in helping the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government at the time to defend the state interests and the government," explains Rajni Gamage, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. 

She adds, "In this context of geopolitics, internal instability, and the close friendship that the two Prime Ministers are famously said to have shared, the 1974 and 1976 agreements are likely to have been driven by an understanding of strengthening bilateral relations in a joint and united front against external and internal threats and divisive forces." 

While the civil war in Sri Lanka and Colombo's subsequent drift into Beijing's embrace put paid to many of those hopes, trying to reopen these agreements is fraught with the risk of scuttling the recent improvement in India-Sri Lanka ties.   

Kantha explains, "The settlement of the contentious maritime boundary issue with Sri Lanka also provided clarity on fishing activities, exploitation of hydrocarbon resources and other rights." 

The former diplomat stresses, "The architecture of the agreements would be damaged if there is a change in the original understanding." 

Noting that the position of the Government of India has been consistent, with New Delhi maintaining that Kathchatheevu island is on the Sri Lankan side of the IMBL and that there was no ceding of territory as part of this maritime boundary demarcation exercise, Kantha says, "Sovereignty and territorial integrity are not issues where the government's position changes when there is a change in government. No government has sought to reopen those agreements which have served us well." 

Reopening the Sri Lanka agreements would undo progress 

In recent years, the government passed a constitutional amendment in Parliament to effect the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh. 

The agreement was concluded in 1974, but finally implemented in 2015-16 after an exchange of enclaves. 

India also accepted a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in July 2014 on the maritime boundary that favoured Bangladesh.

Kantha says, "Both these understandings have led to much better relations with Bangladesh." 

In the context of the recent row over Katchatheevu, he adds, "Reopening these issues with neighbouring countries would not set a good precedent and would instead create anxieties among them." 

  

End of Sri Lankan civil war changed things 

Despite the advantages gained by India, it cannot be denied that the fishermen of Tamil Nadu have received a raw deal. 

Under the 1974 and 1976 agreements, the Katchatheevu island lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka IMBL. Moreover, no fishing rights in Sri Lankan waters or around the Katchatheevu island were bestowed upon Indian fishermen under these two agreements. 

 
Before these agreements, Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen had historically practiced their trade alongside each other in the Palk Strait, the narrow body of water that divides the two countries. 

Since the two pacts, however, scores of Tamil fishermen have been killed by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly crossing over into Colombo's waters. The Sri Lankan Navy has often accused Indian fishermen of poaching in its waters, leading to frequent arrests and even shootings. 

Meanwhile, Indian fishermen claim that climate change and dwindling catches have driven them to sail farther out to sea, and into Sri Lanka's waters as a result. 

After a Civil War broke out in Sri Lanka in the 80s, security restrictions on the country's fishermen left the field open for their Indian counterparts. However, Sri Lanka's navy beefed up its presence off the country's north coast once the war ended in 2009, leading to an increase in confrontations with Indian fishermen. 

For these reasons, the then government's decision to recognise Katchatheevu as Sri Lanka's has been an emotive issue for Tamil Nadu's fishing community and has often featured in the state's politics.