Indian trawlers leave Sri Lankan small-scale fishers a ravaged, bereft sea

• Bottom trawlers from India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu have been encroaching Sri Lanka’s northern waters for years, carrying out destructive fishing practices that have caused serious depletion of fish stocks and damaged marine habitats.

COLOMBO — The Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar have long served as rich fishing grounds, providing bountiful harvests to Sri Lanka’s northern coastal communities. However, fishing activity in this region was severely restricted during the 27-year-long civil war, which was largely concentrated in the north. When the war ended in 2009, local fishing communities were hopeful of resuming their traditional livelihoods and rebuilding their lives.

But that hope was short-lived…| read more on Mongabay