Katchatheevu Island

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

• It is an uninhabited off-shore island in the Palk Strait originally owned by a king of Ramnad (present-day Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu).
• The island is used by fishermen to dry their nets.
• During the British rule, it was administered jointly by India and Sri Lanka.
• In the early 20th century, Sri Lanka claimed territorial ownership over the islet, so in 1974 India ceded the island to Sri Lanka, through a joint agreement.
• Two years later through another accord, India further gave up its fishing rights in the region.
• Initially the 1974 border agreement did not affect fishing on either side of the border.
• In 1976, through an exchange of letters, both India and Sri Lanka agreed to stop fishing in each other’s waters.
• In 1974 and 1976 treaties were signed between the two countries to demarcate the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
• However, the agreement could not stop the fishermen from fishing in these waters, as fishermen know no boundary.
• Despite the signing of maritime boundary agreements, fishermen communities of both the countries continued their fishing in the Palk Bay area peacefully until the Eelam war broke out in 1983.
• Nonetheless, after the end of War in 2009, the Sri Lankan fishermen have been raising their objection to Indian fishermen fishing in their waters.
• The small islet of Katchatheevu, hitherto used by the fishermen for sorting their catch and drying their nets, fell on the other side of the IMBL
• Fishermen often risk their lives and cross the IMBL rather than return empty-handed, but the Sri Lankan Navy is on alert, and have either arrested or destroyed fishing nets and vessels of those who have crossed the line.