Agreements mooted to help fishermen

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Dr.Rajitha Senaratna said he plans to sign bilateral agreements with the Indian Government on issues regarding poaching in the Sri Lankan territorial seas and Sri Lankan boats in the Indian territorial seas.

Minister Senaratna said he will enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Government regarding the arrests of fishermen for allegedly crossing over the demarcated International Maritime Border Lines.

"I expect that such an understanding with the Indian Government could lead to prevent arrests of fishermen in either countries,"he said.

The long standing friendship and trust between India and Sri Lanka will be the key to establish such an understanding, he said.

This will serve as the permanent solution to the problem of local fishermen being apprehended by Indian coast guards for straying into the Indian waters for fishing,he said.

Dr.Senaratna said a system of high frequency automatic signal processing will be set up for communicating with local vessels in the sea about their location to indicate their position in relation to a nearby Maritime Border Line of a foreign country.

About 996 Sri Lankan fishermen had been arrested by Indian Coast Guards in 2009 on the charges of illegally fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) of the Indian sea.

Eighty seven of them are still in the custody, the Minister said. He said he will discuss with his counterpart in India to get them released.