Lok Sabha Question No. 237 (STARRED), answered on 2021-12-14
Subject: Marine Fishing Conflicts
Ministry: FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING
Asked by: Anubhav Mohanty

## MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRYAND DAIRYING

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES

## LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO. *237 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14 th  DECEMBER, 2021

## Marine Fishing Conflicts

## *237. SHRI ANUBHAV MOHANTY :

Will  the  Minister  of  FISHERIES,  ANIMAL  HUSBANDRY  AND  DAIRYING मत्स्यपालन , पशुपालन और डेयरी मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a)  Whether  the  Government  has  any  specific  institutional  mechanism  to  reduce  and  manage inter-State as well as international conflicts for management of marine fisheries;
- (b) if so, the details including the text of such policy/plan/proposal/institutional mechanism; and
- (c)  if  not,  the  manner  in  which  the  Government  proposes  to  deal  with  inter-State  and International marine fishing conflicts?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF FISHERIES,ANIMAL HUSBANDRYAND DAIRYING

(SHRIPARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

- (a) to (c):  A Statement is placed on the Table of the House.

*****

## Statement referred to in reply to the Lok Sabha Starred Question No 237 put in by Shri Anubhav Mohanty, Member of Parliament for answer on 14 th December, 2021 regarding Marine Fishing Conflicts:

(a).Yes, Sir. Article 263 of the Constitution of India provides for the establishment of an InterState  Council  to inter  alia look  into  the  disputes  which  may  have  arisen  between  States. Accordingly,  an  Inter-State  Council  has  been  constituted  by  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs (MHA) with the vision to support Centre-State and Inter-State coordination and cooperation in India. The Inter-State Council, in consultation with the Department of Fisheries, Government of India considers the inter-State fisheries related issues as well. With regard to addressinginternational fisheries related matters, there are multilateral organisations like Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) which take up such matters. India has been  a  member  of  Indian  Ocean  Tuna  Commission  (IOTC),  which  is  the  RFMO  for  Indian Ocean. In addition, there is an organization called International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)  which  adjudicates  on  such  disputes.  Besides,  the  Government  of  India  has  also established the bilateral Joint Working Groups (JWGs), such as India-Bangladesh and India-Sri Lanka JWGs to foster cooperation with partner countries and to sort out disputes/differences on bilateral negotiation basis in the fisheries related matters.

(b). The text of the Article 263of the Constitution of India relating to reads as under:

"263. Provisions with respect to an inter-State Council - If at any time it appears to the President that the public interests would be served by the establishment of a Council charged with the duty of -

(a) inquiring into and advising upon disputes which may have arisen between States;

(b) investigating and discussing subjects in which some or all of the States, or the Union and one or more of the States, have a common interest; or

(c) making recommendations upon any such subject and, in particular, recommendations for the better co-ordination of policy and action with respect to that subject, it shall be lawful for the President by order to establish such a Council, and to define the nature of the duties to be performed by it and its organization and procedure.'

An RFMO is an international organisation dedicated to the sustainable management of highly migratory  and  straddlingfishery  resources  in  a  particular  Area  of  Competence.  RFMOs  may focus on specific species (e.g. the Commission forthe Conservation  of Southern Bluefin Tuna CCSBT) or havea wider remit related to living marine resources in generalwithin a region (e.g. the Commission for the Conservationof Antarctic Marine Living Resources - CCAMLR). RFMOs are endowed with a management mandate. Thismeans that RFMOs may develop legally binding conservation and management measures (or rules) - oftenreferred to as CMMs - which their Members are expectedto implement. CMMs can cover a wide range of fisheriesmanagement measures; ranging from the collection of statistics to the types of fishing gears that may or may not bedeployed within its Area of Competence. These RFMOs including IOTC try to settle differences of opinion and disputes if any relating to fishing rights and fishing quotas on a consensus basis.

ITLOS has jurisdiction to entertain an application for the prompt release of a detained vessel or its crew in accordance with the provisions of article 292 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This article provides that where the authorities of a State Party have detained a vessel flying the flag of another State Party and it is alleged that the detaining State has not complied with the provisions of the UNCLOS for the prompt release of the vessel or  its  crew  upon  the  posting  of  a  reasonable  bond  or  other  financial  security,  the  question  of release  from  detention  may  be  submitted  to  the  Tribunal  if,  within  10  days  from  the  time  of detention, the parties have not agreed to submit it to another court or tribunal (UNCLOS, article 292, paragraph 1). The application for release may be made only by or on behalf of the flag State of the vessel (UNCLOS, article 292, paragraph 2).

The JWG formed under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed 6 th September, 2021 between India and Bangladesh is to provide guidance, review the progress of activities and to facilitate  co-operation  under  the  said  MoU.  JWG  Meeting  is  to  be  arranged  every  year alternatively in India and Bangladesh.

The Secretary level JWG between India and Sri Lanka was formed as per the Decision in the Ministerial  level  bilateral  talks  on  fishermen  issues  between  the  two  countries  held  on  5 th November, 2016. TheMinisterial level talks were co-chaired by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and  for  Fisheries  on  the  Sri  Lankan  side  and  by  the  Hon'ble  External  Affairs  Minister  and Hon'ble Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister on the Indian side.

*****