When Indian International Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visits Colombo subsequent week, the federal government is to take in the problem of Indian fishermen getting into Sri Lanka’s northern territorial waters 3 days per week and attractive in unlawful backside trawling, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda stated.
The Indian fishermen are anticipated to be again in Sri Lankan waters after a two-month-long annual breeding ban was once lifted on Friday.
When President Ranil Wickremesinghe visited New Delhi final Sunday to wait the swearing-in rite of Indian Top Minister Narendra Modi, the subject was once raised at a gathering with Minister Dr. Jaishnakar.
“As a country, we’ve to give protection to our assets, pursuits, and the livelihood of our fisherfolks. I am hoping to lift the problem within the subsequent Cupboard assembly (June 19) as neatly,” Minister Devananda stated.
Days sooner than the Indian government lifted the once a year breeding ban, a bunch of fishermen’s unions primarily based within the North passed over a petition on Tuesday to officers on the Indian consulate place of work in Jaffna asking for India to take fast steps to stop Indian fishermen from entering Sri Lankan waters on the expense in their livelihood.
The fishermen’s unions, which shaped a collective referred to as the Northern Fishermen’s Alliance, asked President Wickremesinghe
in a petition to induce Indian government to “expedite their most efforts to tracking and combating the day by day incursion of 1000’s of Tamil Nadu trawlers each Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday evenings.”
The 2-month-long ban, which got here into impact on April 14 and was once lifted on Friday, is enforced to facilitate the breeding of fish banks within the ocean and take care of the equilibrium of marine assets for sustainability.
Recently, Indian fishermen who have interaction in fishing in Sri Lankan territorial waters are arrested by way of the Army and Coast Guard and subjected to prison motion after their trawlers are seized.
Following the prison motion during which the Justice of the Peace courts hand in a suspended sentence of eighteen months for attractive in fishing with out a licence, fishermen are launched and repatriated with the help of Indian diplomatic missions.
(sundaytimes.lk)
(This tale, at first revealed by way of sundaytimes.lk has no longer been edited by way of SLM body of workers)
