Ministerial team puts off Delhi talks to October

Ahigh-level Sri Lankan ministerial delegation comprising Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera put off for a likely October date a previously scheduled visit to New Delhi next week to work out a lasting solution to the continuing problem of illegal fishing by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters.

The two Ministers were due to visit New Delhi next week for talks with their Indian counterparts, but Sri Lanka requested a postponement as Minister Amaraweera who is also the General Secretary of the UPFA has political commitments connected with the SLFP annual convention at Kurunegala next Sunday (Sept. 4).

However, Minister Amaraweera yesterday reiterated the Sri Lankan government’s position that it would not release any of the Indian fishing craft taken into for poaching in the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar. Some 130 Indian trawlers are currently in Sri Lankan custody for illegal fishing on the Sri Lankan side of the IMBL (International Maritime Boundary Line).

Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told the Sunday Times that the Sri Lanka Government will not release these confiscated boats and there will be no compromise on the matter. “As we are developing our Northern fisheries economy we are expecting a reasonable catch for our export market”, he said. Sri Lanka loses an estimated USD 49 million (Rs. 5 billion) annually due to the poaching by Indian fishermen.

Mr. Amaraweera said that the government will take up the same position at the proposed talks with the Indian counterpart in New Dehli now likely to be scheduled for October. The new dates have been given by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, but the Indian Government is yet to confirm the dates. A leading Fisheries Association in Tamil Nadu claimed that India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had assured them that she would secure the release of their boats before the next round of talks with Sri Lanka.

Secretary of the Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry Confederation of Fisheries Associations, N.J. Bose told the Sunday Times that Ms. Swaraj assured them that she will utilise diplomatic measures with Sri Lanka to have the confiscated boats released.

Some 20 Fishermen’s Federations in Southern India called on the Tamil Nadu State Government to urge the Central Government in New Delhi to demand the release of the boats in Sri Lankan custody. Last month some of these groups met Ms Swaraj and made the same appeal.

The Sri Lankan ministers were due to leave after the Fishermen'sAssociations of the two countries held a fresh round of talks to find an amicable solution to the on-going poaching issue by Indian fishermen which is also disrupting the livelihood of hundreds of families in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern provinces apart from the destruction of marine life in the North-East seas.

Fisheries Ministry officials informed the Sri Lankan Fishermen’s groups that talks have been delayed as the associations from the Indian side are insisting that some 130 trawlers now in Sri Lanka’s custody for illegal poaching inside Sri Lankan waters, be released before talks commence.

During President Maithripala Sirisena’s visit in May to India Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the need to have a permanent solution to the IndoLanka fisheries issue, but so far talks between the sides have not been held since then. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj conceded that the issue was an “irritant” to Sri Lanka.