Sri Lanka has turned down Indian fishing request
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- Published on Wednesday, 09 May 2012 10:57
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Sri Lanka has turned down a request made by India to allow its fishermen to fish in Sri Lankan waters for a certain period.
Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Dr. Rajitha Senaratne told Parliament yesterday that the request was made before the discussion took place between Indian and Sri Lankan authorities on the problem of Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen entering each others sea territories recently.
Dr Senaratne said that the problem pertaining to the intrusion would be sorted out through the discussions., and both governments and fisheries cooperatives and unions have agreed to a negotiated settlement. He said that the Sri Lankan fishermen who were under custody in India had been released based on an agreement obtained from the Indian Home Affairs Ministry in New Delhi.
The Minister said thatat the moment there are 36 Sri Lankan fishermen in Indian custody - five at Gujarat, 26 at Tamil Nadu and five at Andra Pradesh - while there are eight Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody.
The Minister also said that there are 180,693 registered fishermen in Sri Lanka and all Multi-day fishing vessels of those fishermen are equipped with GPS facilities.
Referring to insurance the Minister said that there are 4,596 offshore and deep sea fishing vessels, and last year 3,019 vessels and their crew were insured and 8,636 persons so far have contributed to the Diyawara Diriya insurance scheme which was started in May 2011. (niz)
