INDIANS COY ON FISHERMEN'S ISSUES

Although it was agreed that the India - Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on Fisheries should meet on a regular basis, at least once every six months, as agreed between the two countries during their previous meetings, the Group has not met since its last meeting held in Colombo on January 13-14, 2012. The Daily News reliably learns that Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has urged Delhi to engage in the process of the Joint Working Group without any further delay in the background of the incidents of poaching by South Indian fishermen in Lankan waters -- which are continuing unabated despite Sri Lanka urging for respecting the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Palk Strait. India was supposed to hold the Joint Working Group meeting in Delhi months ago. They are yet to respond positively to Sri Lanka's call to prevent Indian fishing trawlers from straying into Sri Lankan waters for illegal fishing. According to Minister Senaratne, it appears that the Joint Working Group had not stuck to the agreement reached at their last meeting held in Colombo. "Indian fishermen are violating the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) laws at will. Indian authorities do not seem to have any control over theses violations," he said. The Sri Lanka Navy has arrested 265 Indian fishermen on charges of poaching and illegal fishing during the period from January this year up to now. Sri Lanka has released 118 Indian fishermen thus far. Minister Senaratne said, " We used to release Indian fishermen in our custody for poaching on many occasions." "We are having problems now on how to accommodate them in our prisons because they had illegally entered into our exclusive economic zone against the law," he said. "I have discussed this matter with the Commander of the Navy. We have to protect our marine resources," he said. "We have prevented incidents of Sri Lankan fishermen going into Indian territorial waters. Now there is not a single Sri Lankan fisherman in their custody, because we prevented such instances respecting international maritime boundary laws," he said. "We were compelled to get strict on this matter of poaching by Indian fishermen, because their numbers do not seem to cease despite our repeated requests from Indian authorities to prevent such incidents,"the minister added. Fisheries Ministry officials are of the opinion that they it will be necessary to establish a joint mechanism comprising Sri Lankan and Indian Coast Guards to monitor instances of poaching in the Palk Strait. "We have taken this matter seriously," they added.