livelihood of local fishermen affected by poaching

Minister Douglas Devananda has said that the daily livelihood of Sri Lankan fishermen have been seriously affected with the Indian fishermen encroaching Sri Lankan waters, and sometimes the Indian fishermen even damage the fishing nets of Sri Lankan fishermen.

The Malaysian news agency “Bernama.com” said that the Minister has suggested  the Sri Lankan and Indian navy to conduct joint patrolling near the maritime boundary of both countries to prevent this kind of incidents taking place.    

He has said that poaching being done by the Indian fishermen very often result in clashes between fishermen from both countries, and the only way one can find out who is attacking whom, is by conducting joint patrolling at the international maritime boundary line.

The Minister has also appealed to the Tamil Nadu politicians to look at the fishermen's issue sincerely without attempting to use it as a political mileage and try to solve it instead of raising allegations against the Sri Lankan navy. (niz)