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Indian trawlers won’t be released, but talks to resume
View(s):Sri Lanka has rejected a fresh request from India to release 129 Indian fishing trawlers seized by the Navy for poaching — but has agreed to resume fresh talks between the fishermen associations of the two countries. A formal reply to the request has been sent in response to two requests from the Indian External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi. They were conveyed through diplomatic channels to the Foreign Affairs Ministry which sought the Fisheries Ministry’s opinion on the matter.
“We have agreed to initiate fishermen level talks taking into consideration the bilateral ties between the two countries even though such talks in the past have ended up in a deadlock,” a senior Fisheries Ministry official said. Since last year, 129 Indian fishing vessels have been seized by Sri Lanka Navy with assistance from the Coast Guard when they were poaching in Sri Lankan waters. Indian fishermen have been detained pending legal action while fishing vessels and equipment have been confiscated.
Following a meeting chaired by the Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to discuss the issue of illegal bottom trawling by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters, it was decided to resume talks between fishermen associations of the two countries.
The meeting was attended by all the relevant stakeholders including parliamentarians M.A. Sumanthiran (TNA), Nihal Galappaththi (JVP), Provincial Fisheries Ministers and representatives from the Navy.
A selected group of fishermen representing rural and Cooperative fishermen federations in the North and the South will have talks prior to Minister Amarweera’s visit to Indian on September 5. Minister Amaraweera told the meeting he would take up the issue of bottom trawling with the Indian authorities and brief them on the impact it had on Sri Lanka’s marine resources.
A study done by the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), a research institute arm of the Fisheries Ministry, found bottom trawling carried out by Indian fishermen on Sri Lankan waters has devastated the sea line turning it to another ‘Dead Sea’.
This trawling method devours marine species, sea weeds, corals and reefs working as spawning beds for fish breeding. Some 3000 Indian fishing trawlers enter Sri Lankan waters three days a week for poaching.