NAVY ARRESTS 54 INDIAN FISHERMEN

Allegedly violating the IMBL and using illegal bottom trawling methods

Fifty-four Indian fishermen found poaching in Sri Lankan waters were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on the sea offTalaimannar and the coast of Kankesanturai in two separate incidents on Saturday night.

Military spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera said with the arrest of the fishermen, ten fishing vessels had also been confiscated.

He said thirty-three Indian fishermen were arrested and five boats were seized at Talaimannar, while the rest of them and another five boats were arrested at Kankesanturai.

The fishermen had violated the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and were using the illegal method of bottom trawling, he said.

“The fishermen and their trawlers would be handed over to the fisheries authorities in Talaimannar and Jaffna for legal action,” Brigadier Jayaweera said.

However, the Indian media reports said, while the Lankan fishermen have been complaining about blatant poaching with bottom trawlers by Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puduchery, the Indian fishermen have been claiming they have a “traditional right” to fish in these waters and the Lankan fishermen should see it as a humanitarian issue.

Meanwhile, a 19-member Sri Lankan team, comprising 10 fishermen’s leaders and nine officials, would be participating in talks between the fishermen’s associations of Sri Lanka and India to be held in Chennai on March 24 and 25, officials said on Saturday.

This was the third time fishermen’s associations of the two countries would be meeting to thrash out the issue of fishing in the Palk Straits and Palk Bay.

While the Lankan fishermen have been complaining about blatant poaching with bottom trawlers by Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puduchery, the Indian fishermen have been claiming they have a “traditional right” to fish in these waters and the Lankan fishermen should see it as a humanitarian issue