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Fishing talks fail as Lanka rejects Indian proposals
Sri Lanka has rejected a proposal to allow Indian fishermen to enter Sri Lankan waters for three days a week through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Government to resolve the fishing disputes, Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday.
The details of this rejection and other matters that were taken up at the talks between the two sides in New Delhi on Friday were communicated to the minister yesterday by the three-member Sri Lankan delegation led by Fisheries Director General Nimal Hettiarachchi. The Indian side was headed by Dr. Raja Sekhar Vundru, Joint Secretary of the Fisheries Ministry.
“They came up with an MoU and wanted to pursue the matters which we discussed in the 2012 Joint Working Committee. Our representatives told them that it was not necessary,” Dr. Senaratne said. At the Joint Working Committee, India suggested its fishermen should be allowed to fish in Sri Lankan waters for three days a week and be given a two-year grace period to switch from bottom trawling to ordinary fishing.
The officials representing Tamil Nadu at the talks called for a mechanism to release Indian fishermen and their boats without going through the legal process.
But Dr Senaratne said this request also was rejected. The minister said there would be no change in the Sri Lankan policy not to release Indian boats in Sri Lankan custody.
Fisheries Ministry Advisor and delegation member Dr. S. Subasinghe said the Indian authorities came up with a plan for a collaborative fishing system which they said would benefit both countries. ”That proposal would not be in Lankan waters. The Mannar sea is sacred to our fishermen. We discussed the possibilities of fishing outside of the disputed areas such as the Palk Bay and the Mannar sea,” he said.
A date for the next round of talks was not fixed. Tamil Nadu fishermen Association General Secretary N.J. Bose told the Sunday Times they were ‘disappointed’ over Friday’s talks. ”We were hoping that Sri Lanka would agree to release our boats following the talks, but there was no such decision. I do not see a solution soon,” he said. Mr. Bose said Rameshwaram fishermen had called off their 36-day long strike on the assurance their boats would be released.