Every year, dozens of Tamil fishermen are detained while casting their nets in waters where they have fished for generations. These waters now straddle the contested maritime boundary between India and Sri Lanka. On 29th June 2025, Sri Lankan authorities arrested eight Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu for allegedly surpassing territorial limitations. Earlier, in March, eleven Indian-Tamil fishermen were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of poaching in the Palk Bay area. Unfortunately, such transgressions are not isolated instances in Palk Bay. Fishermen from both India and Sri Lanka are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other’s waters. The hostility is substantially aggravated due to the scarcity of catch in the Palk Bay area for Tamil fishermen on both sides, and thus, such instances of trespassing are met with violent takedowns and arrests. These incidents are not merely border disputes; they are demonstrative symptomatic of a deeper issue affecting transboundary communities whose lives are rooted in shared cultural and livelihood practices across national borderlines. Transboundary communities are groups of individuals who share cultural, spiritual, livelihood, and/or familial ties that bind them to the territory of two or more states. The location of these ties requires transboundary communities to frequently cross international borders in order to exercise their cultural, spiritual, livelihood, and familial rights. This blog delves into a South Asian case study that illustrates the challenges faced by the Tamil fishing community, a transboundary community residing across maritime borders of India and Sri Lanka. The authors discuss the underlying international legal framework and recommendations for the enhanced safeguarding of transboundary rights of Tamil fishing communities. The issue underscores the importance of a clear definition of maritime boundaries under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and collaborative mechanisms for sharing resources.