Indo-Lanka Joint Working Group on fisheries meets:

Unlawful fishing, poaching on agenda

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

Sri Lanka will take a stand to respect International Maritime Boundary Lines as Sri Lanka-India Joint Working Group on fisheries meets at the External Affairs Ministry in Colombo today to discuss the unresolved issue of unlawful fishing and poaching in the Palk Bay region.

The meeting is expected to find an amicable solution to the decade-long problem of bottom trawling in Sri Lankan waters in violation of the international Indo - Lanka maritime boundaries, External Affairs Ministry sources told the Daily News.

The group’s meeting had stopped for five years. It was revived following a meeting President Mahinda Rajapaksa had with former Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao several years ago.

India will be represented by officials from the Indian External Affairs Ministry, Delhi, technical experts and fisheries experts from relevant line ministries.

The Indian group will also include delegates from Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Orissa islands, sources said. The Sri Lankan group will comprise officials of the External Affairs Ministry, the Fisheries Ministry, the Government Agents of the Northern Province, representatives of the Navy and other secretary level delegates.

According to Provincial authorities in the North, poaching by has been a major hindrance to over 150,000 countrymen in the North who are trying to reestablish their livelihoods after the three decade war.