Indian poaching in Sri Lanka waters reduced: Sri Lanka

[Skyline]

Poaching by Indian fishing vessels in Sri Lanka's northern waters is now much reduced, and warned fishermen in the island not to go into other country's territories, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

"In the north fishermen are now much happier," Senaratne told reporters in Colombo.
"They had two problems. They earlier had to get a pass from the Navy for which they had to queue up for two or three hours. The new Navy commander cancelled it following talks with us.

"The second problem was poaching by Indian fishermen. They used to come to about four nautical miles from the coast and they take all the fish. Not only that they destroy the seabed though bottom trawling."

Bottom trawling was banned in Sri Lanka and fishermen used to complained how it was banned for them and Indians were doing it, he said.

Senaratne said up to a 1000 Indian vessels used to slip into Sri Lankan waters each day on some occasions compared to about 50 Sri Lankan vessels.

But now they were being arrested by the Navy and being produced in court.

"Now poaching is reduced," Senaratne said. "So India is also now taking tough action against our fishermen going to their waters. That is to be expected.

"I have now told our fishing societies, whoever does the wrong thing we will not help anymore. So I told from January 2013 we will not help anyone who has been going illegally to fish in other people's territory."

Senaratne said India and Sri Lanka used to exchange fishermen without prosecuting them. Sri Lanka's fisheries ministry used to give legal assistance and air tickets when fishermen were caught in other countries.

But he said recently when some fishermen were caught in Bangladesh, under the new policy, air tickets were refused.

"Still some people go," Senratne said. "They take risks thinking that we will help with legal help and tickets."

He said Sri Lankan fishermen poaching in other countries have not sharply fallen. Arrests of Illegal Unregulated Unreported (IUU) vessels from Sri Lanka had also dropped to zero in the current year, he said.
Minister Senaratne said Sri Lanka's satellite based vessel monitoring system could track all the vessels that stepped out of the country's territory.

A warning bell went off each time a vessel strayed out and the transponder kept sending a message for four hours even if it was switched off, he said.

Each country has a 200 mile exclusive economic zone around their coastline.

Senarantne said both Indian and Sri Lankan vessels were engaged mostly in coastal fisheries though and deep sea fishing in the Indian Ocean was not exploited.

Indian poaching in Sri Lanka waters reduced: fisheries minister

 

[Gibbs]

Every single TN vessel that violates our maritime border should be arrested and their boats confiscated according to our law.. If worse come to worse crack some heads in the process.. No one should be allowed to poach and destroy our marine wealth.. Good on the govt for this initiative

 

[Contrarian]

Every single TN vessel that violates our maritime border should be arrested and their boats confiscated according to our law.. If worse come to worse crack some heads in the process.. No one should be allowed to poach and destroy our marine wealth.. Good on the govt for this initiative

Cant disagree with you. If Indian fishermen are violating the maritime borders they ought to be arrested and prosecuted as per the law.

 

[Gibbs]

Finally some tangible action on these TN poachers and third class thieves.. Like everything else their lies and propaganda have been exposed by their own country.. Note the total absence of the mention of Kachchativu

Deterrent action for Indians found fishing in Lankan waters

NEW DELHI: The government is planning "deterrent" action against Indian fishermen violating international waters with Sri Lanka, finding that trawlers and ships from this side are the biggest source of confrontation with the Emerald isle.

The decision to slap penalties and even suspend the licences of fishermen who are repeat offenders of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) stems from their refusal to heed the earlier warnings.

Foreign minister Salman Khurshid spoke to his Lankan counterpart G L Peiris on Friday, seeking the release of 26 Indian fishermen in Colombo's custody. In response, Peiris asked for a meeting between the fishermen's associations of the two countries to resolve the issue.

This has Indian government stumped because of Tamil Nadu's rigid attitude, possibly for political reason. The TN government has stonewalled an early meeting of fishermen's association, saying the atmosphere wasn't conducive for it. This has the Centre explore alternative venue for such meeting like Puducherry or Bangalore. PM Manmohan Singh has personally weighed in on this with TN CM J Jayalalithaa as has Khurshid and the MEA brass, without any success.

At a recent meeting chaired by the foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, the view veered towards the fact that Indian fishermen are crossing the IMBL to fish in Lankan waters with impunity. The meet emphasized that Indian fishing boats were routinely transgressing the IMBL, with the Indian Navy pegging the figure at 700-900 every day.

In a bid to enforce discipline, several long-term measures may soon be put in place. Besides deterrent penalty for violators and suspension of licence for repeat offenders, India may extend the "no fishing" period from the current 45 to 60 days and also during monsoons. New Delhi may set up a "no fishing zone" straddling the IMBL and India-Lanka Marine Disputes Authority.

The move to rein in the Indian fishing community seeks to address the major flashpoint between New Delhi and Colombo, threatening the diplomatic detente besides emerging a polarizing issue in TN politics.

In addition, India might take more serious measures like a ban on bottom trawling and use of monofilament and twin fold nets, which are the main culprits from the Indian side. This is not allowed in most countries, but Indian fishermen use these equipment which destroys marine ecology and stop issuing licences to new trawlers from operating in the Palk Straits and the Gulf of Mannar.

Deterrent action for Indians found fishing in Lankan waters - The Times of India

 

[Skyline]

^^ Good action by GoI.

 

[rio90]

shooting and sinking their boats is far more economical coz if navy arrest them GOSL has to feed them.