Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen are embroiled in an enduring dispute over the use of fishing grounds in the Palk Bay. The dispute is not only a matter of big India versus small Sri Lanka, or big boats versus small boats. Rather, Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen are less successful in asserting their interests vis-à-vis the central state than their Indian counterparts. This imbalance of political agency is grounded in enduring ethnic tension between the Tamils and Sri Lankan government.