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Poaching row: Moves to hook Indian boat owners
The Government is to seize Indian fishing vessels caught poaching in Sri Lankan waters and impose heavy penalties on vessel owners for their release, a top official said yesterday. Fisheries Department Director General N.D. Hettiarachchi said this position would be made known at the India-Sri Lanka fisheries talks on March 25.
He said the Government would take a hardline position on the poaching issue as a solution to the simmering crisis in the Palk Bay.Mr. Hettiarachchi said the new policy would be to seize the boats but release the fishermen as the real culprits were the owners of the boats.“This has to change. Now the laws will be fully implemented to seize the boats and impose heavy fines for their release. If the fines are not paid, the boats will be confiscated,” he said.
The fisheries chief said he believed this would persuade the Indian fishing boat owners to think twice before sending fishermen to poach in Sri Lanka’s waters.
At present arrested fishermen are released after a brief detention depending on political developments on either side of the Palk Strait but this position will have to change if a solution is to be reached on the issue, he added.
Mr. Hettiarachchi said some 116 Indian fishermen were released along with their vessels and equipment as a goodwill gesture prior to the upcoming talks and the Indian side had reciprocated accordingly.“But we need to go further and secure guarantees from the Indians that the poaching will stop and towards this end, representatives of several fishermen’s organisations from across the country will be invited to attend the talks,” he said.
However several local fishermen’s groups were yesterday sceptical regarding the forthcoming talks saying that the Indians could not be trusted and urged the Government to take a tougher position and strictly implement the law.Dinesh Fernando, All Ceylon Fisher Folk Trade Union (ACFFTU) General Secretary and spokesperson for several fishermen’s organisations in the north and east, said they would meet on Tuesday to decide whether to take part in the March 25 talks.
Sugath Emanuel, Secretary of the Puttalam District Fisheries Federation (PDFF), said that under an agreement endorsed in Chennai on January 26 this year the Indians had pledged to stay away from the Palk Bay for one month until a solution could be found.
However, two weeks later they violated this agreement and returned to the Palk Bay in large numbers despite the threat of arrest by the Sri Lankan Navy, he said.
N. Ponnambalam, President of the Jaffna District Rural Fisheries Organisation Federation (JDRFOF), said the first person to break the agreement was Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister K. A. Jeyapal who owned a fleet of fishing vessels.
Mr. Jeyapal who was among 10 regional officials involved in the January 27 talks in Chennai sent a fleet of 15 mechanised fishing vessels owned by him into the area followed by hundreds of others, he claimed. Meanwhile the Navy said yesterday it would continue to arrest intruders in the country’s territorial waters.
Navy Spokesperson Kosala Warnakulasuriya said they were on a high alert for intruders in the Palk Bay and those crossing into Sri Lankan waters illegally would be dealt with accordingly.