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Fishermen talks resume in Chennai; Lanka won’t make compromise
Sri Lanka’s northern fishermen will meet their Indian counterparts for talks on Tuesday in Chennai and reiterate that they should not poach in Sri Lanka’s waters, a senior official said.
Fisheries Ministry Secretary S.D.A.B. Boralassa said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had made it clear that there would be no compromise on the poaching issue.
He said that if the fishermen from both sides could agree on a solution to the crisis at the talks in Chennai, the two countries could take on from there and formalise it.
Ahead of their visit to Chennai, Sri Lanka’s fishermen delegation members met Fisheries Minister Joseph Michael Perera and Ministry Secretary Boralassa on Friday at the Ministry premises in Colombo.
Outlining the Government’s position, Mr. Boralassa said Sri Lanka would not let Indian fishermen cross the International Maritime Boundary line (IMBL) and poach in Sri Lankan waters using illegal fishing methods such as bottom trawling.
Justin Zoysa, president of the Mannar Fisheries Federation and member of the delegation, said Minister Perera instructed them not to make any compromise on Sri Lanka’s sovereignty at the talks with the Indian fishermen.
However, the Indo-Lanka Fishermen Welfare Forum president N. Devadoss, a member of the Indian delegation, told the Sunday Times that since the two previous rounds of talks had ended in a deadlock they were entering the talks with the intention of working out a deal.
“We want to explore the possibility of joint fishing in the Palk Strait by sharing days in a week and more importantly the two countries’ navies should stop arresting fishermen from either side for trespassing into each other’s waters,” he said.
Eight fisheries leaders and six ministry officials will leave tomorrow for Chennai to resume talks that were stalled in May last year.
The issue was also discussed at this week’s National Executive Council meeting. President Maithripala Sirisena decided to convene a meeting of all stakeholders on March 31 to work out a common policy.
Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan who attended the NEC meeting said the chief minister of the Northern Province, the province’s fisheries minister and leaders of fishermen’s federations would take part in this meeting.
“There should be a common policy to negotiate with the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu administration to achieve a sustainable solution to this problem,” he said.