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Sri Lanka to float new Indian proposals with all stakeholders
The Sri Lankan government will need time to consider the six point proposal put forwarded by Indian fishermen at the latest round of Indo- Lanka fisheries talks in Chennai, a senior Fisheries Ministry official said.
Fisheries ministry secretary Nimal Hettiarachchi said a decision regarding the proposals would be taken only after the proposals were discussed on Thursday at a meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena, Northern fishermen federations, Northern Province Fisheries Minister and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians.
The six points put forward by the Indians included permission for Indian fishermen to fish at least five nautical miles off the Sri Lankan coast for 83 days a year for a three-year period. The Indians have also given an assurance that they won’t use pair trawling or any other illegal fishing methods.
“The Tamil Nadu state government had sanctioned Rs 52 crore to convert trawl boats into deep sea fishing vessels and we had sought a further assistance of Rs 975 crore from the central government for the purpose. It would take at least three years to switch to deep sea fishing vessels. Therefore we need to fish 83 days per year for three years,” the document seen by the Sunday Times states.
Mannar Fisheries Federation president Justin Zoysa who participated in the talks said they would have to consult other local fishing federations before agreeing to the grace period sought by the Indian fishermen to stop illegal fishing methods.
” In 2010 an agreement was reached at talks where the Indian fishermen were allowed to access Lankan waters if they gave up bottom trawling in one year. They did not adhere to this. If they had followed the agreement they would not have to negotiate now to share our waters ,” he said.
| Indians feel there’s hope in the horizon By Aanya Wipulasena Fishing Associations in Tamil Nadu and the External Affairs Ministry of India say they are happy with the third round of fisheries talks held in Chennai. The 19-member delegation from Sri Lanka that included a five-member team from Rameshwaran and other fishing community representatives from Pudukkottai and Nagapattinam were in Chennai for a two day meeting in the latest round of talks between the two countries to solve the problem of illegal fishing.. “We told the Lankan representatives that our main issue was about the rights to fish in Sri Lankan waters and that we could take up other problems pertaining to the subject after this was resolved,” Secretary to the All Mechanized Boat Fishermen Association in Tamil Nadu, B. Sesuraja said. “We are happy with the new plan and are willing to use traditional ways to fish. But this will take time. We have been trawling for a number of years and we can’t shift to news ways of fishing overnight,” Mr. Sesuraja said. Mr. Sesuraja said that the new plan would reduce their fishing yield but that they were willing to undergo hardship to resolve the matter that had killed many fishermen and imprisoned others. He said the problems were all due to politics being played out on innocent fishermen who in most instances didn’t know they were violating laws of the sea.. “For the sake of the thousands of people who rely on the fishing industry both sides would cooperate with this pact, which will resolve the matter and allow them to fish peacefully for at least three years. If Sri Lanka disagrees the fight will continue and our fishermen will be forced to break the rules in the name of survival,” Mr. Sesuraja warned. Meanwhile Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said they were happy with the outcome of the meeting where both sides were more receptive compared to previous meetings. |