The Hindu : Straying fishing boats to be seized by Sri Lankan Navy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 08, 2003

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International

Straying fishing boats to be seized by Sri Lankan Navy

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO. MARCH 7. The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry has instructed its Navy to seize all fishing boats encroaching on Sri Lankan waters to prevent the recurrence of clashes between Sri Lankan fishermen and their Indian counterparts.

The State-run Daily News, in a front-paged report today, quoted the Defence Secretary, Austin Fernando, as saying that orders were also given to the Navy to detain the skippers of the vessels and produce them before court.

The Indian fishermen, "who had come as labourers, will be handed over to the Indian Coast Guard in Indian territorial waters". The seized vessels are to be towed to the Karainagar jetty "and will be anchored till the hearing of the cases ends", the paper said. Officials said this was in conformity with the existing international law.

Intrusion by Indian fishermen into Sri Lankan territorial waters has been a major irritant in the bilateral relations. Since January, 167 Indian fishermen have been apprehended including the 117 who were nabbed for poaching in two separate incidents earlier this week. Just four of the 167 cases were for charges other than intrusion such as assault, transportation of refugees, smuggling or possession of narcotics.

At times, Indian fishermen have been nabbed close to the Mannar shores, which is about 20 nautical miles from Katchchativu. The fishermen arrested earlier this week told The Hindu that they sail into Sri Lankan waters "well beyond Katchchativu" in search of their catch and that their trawlers used nets that damaged marine resources.

They cite depleting marine resources in Indian waters for the continued encroachment.

Fishermen in Mannar, angered by the continued poaching and the ecological damage caused to the seabed by Indian trawlers have planned to hold a "peaceful protest" before the Mannar district authorities on March 10, and hand over petitions addressed to the Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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Straying fishing boats to be seized by Sri Lankan Navy