Sri Lanka arrests 10 Indian fishermen for poaching

Sri Lanka on Thursday arrested 10 Indian fishermen for poaching in Sri Lankan waters.

The Sri Lanka Navy said it assisted the Coast Guard in arresting 10 Indian fishermen along with 2 Indian fishing trawlers poaching in Sri Lankan waters in the Northern seas.

The arrested fishermen and their trawlers had been taken to a Naval Base, where they were handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries in the Northern Jaffna town for further action.

Earlier this week Sri Lanka urged India to end bottom trawling in order to resolve a long standing fishing dispute.

India and Sri Lanka held ministerial level talks this week aimed at resolving the fishing issue. India's Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh met with Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development of Sri Lanka Mahinda Amaraweera in Colombo and exchanged views on possible mechanisms to help find a permanent solution to the fishermen issues.

The Sri Lankan side reiterated that the practise of bottom trawling needs to end at the earliest. The Indian side assured that bottom trawling would be phased out in a graded time-bound manner within a practicable timeframe, keeping in mind the capacity building of the fishermen who have to be diversified into deep sea fishing as well as other coastal fishery activities including mariculture, pearl farming, seaweed culture, among others. Endit