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Sri Lanka Navy Journal 87
law. Accordingly, a state has to have the following factors to be recognized as a state:
“Permanent population, Define territory, Government capacity to enter in to relations
with other states” (Adams, M. 2015). Therefore, it is evident that this fishing issue makes
much impact on territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. As a first line of defense, the SLN has
shouldered responsibility to maintain and safeguard the territorial rights of the country.

Sovereignty - The Treaty of Westphalia is the forum which introduced the sovereignty
of a state in 1648, for the first time in the world. Basically it is “a system of political
authority based on territory, mutual recognition, autonomy and control” (Adams, M.
2015). Accordingly the definition of a sovereign state, the state has rights to govern
the people within its boundaries and do everything necessary to govern itself. But the
Indian poachers continue to cross the IMBL freely, violating the territorial rights of Sri
Lanka. As the first responder to this issue, currently the SLN has faced many difficulties
both politically and on diplomatic levels whilst arresting these illegal poachers. Also the
politicians in Tamil Nadu take this point as an opportunity to interfere in domestic affairs
of Sri Lanka as well as to gain their hidden political agendas.

Citizen Security - Citizen Security is the security of individual or group of people
against threat of crime or violence which are insecurity to the people in the society.
This may associate with criminal behavior or organized crime (Adams, M. 2015). When
concerning abovt this fisheries issue, the people who are living in the Northern part of
Sri Lanka are the most affected victims under this citizen security. On trespassing of large
amount of fishing vessels deep into the Sri Lankan waters, many illegal activities such as
illegal fishing, smuggling of narcotics and cannabis, illegal migration and gun running
are taking place. These activities are potential factors that may unstable the security of
people. All these activities are taking place in the sea while the SLN continues to be the
responsible party.

Political mileage over fishing issue - From the political point of view, this issue has
widely spread internally in both the countries. It is a complex and with ethnic, nationalist
and caste issues which are the leading factors that make this a morass. Often, the State of
Tamil Nadu complains that their poor fishermen are severely suffered by the enforcement
measures taken by the government of Sri Lanka. However, the fact is all most all people
who are engaged in bottom trawling on board trawling vessels are contracted employees
and these fishing vessels are owned by the large-scale businessmen who are close to
the political hierarchy of this state. These vessels are targeting on specific type of fish
catch. Mostly they concentrate on Prawns; it makes millions of dollars in USA, Japan
and Western Europe markets. Therefore, Prawns fishing is attracted by many non-fishing
communities to invest their money as it is a profitable venture. As a result, the number
of fishing trawlers increases enormously. The factor here is once the Sri Lankan authority
arrests these vessels poaching within the IMBL of Sri Lanka, there are large scale protests
organized in Tamil Nadu and letters are written to the central government demanding
necessary actions. In order to maintain the goodwill of neighbors, Sri Lankan authority
releases the offenders and their boats to Indian Coast Guard at IMBL at regular intervals.
This process is continued as a routine for a long time without a permanent solution for