Date:13/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/13/stories/2008101356561300.htm

National

66 Sri Lankan fishermen held, 12 boats seized

Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM: After a four-day joint surveillance, helicopters and ships of the Indian Coast Guard seized 12 Sri Lankan boats for intruding into Indian territorial waters and arrested 66 crew members about 120 nautical miles off the Visakhapatnam coast.

The motorised boats, which were catching tuna between Visakhapatnam and Paradip after entering Indian waters from Rameswaram, were brought here by Coast Guard ships Vajra, Sarojini Naidu, Razia Sultana and Sucheta Kripalani. About 2,500 kg to 3,000 kg tuna was seized from them.

Of late, the Sri Lankan fishermen prefer to fish tuna between Visakhapatnam and Paradip and sometimes between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada after intensified raids off the Chennai coast.

“The apprehended fishermen and the seized vessels are being handed over to Harbour Police Station,” Coast Guards Deputy Commandant Lalima Sharma told The Hindu on Sunday.

All the boats were caught about 80 nautical miles within the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone without valid documents and their fishing gears were not stowed in the prescribed manner.

Cases were booked against them under Sections 3 and 7 of Maritime Zones of India Act, 1981.

Ten Sri Lankan fishermen were caught last month when they were poaching tuna near Paradip in four motorised boats.

They were being repatriated to their country after the intervention of the Sri Lankan High Commission and subsequent orders from the Ministry of External Affairs.

“With high demand for tuna in the European Union, the United States and Japan, Sri Lankan fishermen are now choosing India to smuggle tuna.

“It takes around 50 hours for them to reach this part of the Bay from Rameswaram,” Andhra Pradesh Mechanised Boat Operators’ Association president P. Ch. Appa Rao said.

Though the EEZ is said to be possessing four million tonnes of tuna, it is not yet explored fully.