Top level talks to resolve fishing crisis
Bilateral ministerial-level talks to find a sustainable solution to the perennial issue of illegal fishing in Sri Lanka’s northern waters by South Indian fishermen will start tomorrow (5) in New Delhi, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said. The Sri Lanka government has decided to put an end to this pressing problem
Minister Amaraweera said the Sri Lankan delegation will be headed by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and included him and top officials of the Fisheries Ministry while the Foreign Minister of India Sushma Swaraj will be the head of the Indian delegation.
Two groups of fishermen’s representatives from both countries had already started talks in New Delhi as a prelude to top level talks comprising foreign Ministers that will start tomorrow.
“The Sri Lanka government has decided o put an end to this pressing problem of poaching in Sri Lankan waters by South Indian fishermen once and for all. A series of discussions held in Colombo and Chennai in the last few years did not bring any tangible result. South Indians, especially those from Tamil Nadu continue to violate Sri Lanka’s International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) three days per week and plunder our fish resources,” Minister Amaraweera said. Minister Amaraweera said talks will continue on Ministerial, official and fishermen reps level in both countries and the next round of talks will be held in Colombo.
He told the Daily Mirror that the illegal fishing by South Indians in Sri Lanka’s waters was a problem for more than 30 years and it had come to prominence after the end of the war.
He said Sri Lanka will not release boats and fishing gear when the Sri Lanka Navy apprehends Indian fishermen while poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters and added only the fishermen will be released only on sympathetic grounds. He said the most pressing problem in poaching by South Indian fishermen was their bottom trawling because the method destroys the entire marine eco-system in the ocean and seriously affects the fisheries industry. The illegal fishing in its waters costs Sri Lanka Rs. 6 billion annually.