A team will visit Sri Lanka in the next few months to hold another round of discussion to sort out trans-border fishing problems and discuss other issues, V. Vivekanandan, convenor, Alliance for Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF), has said.
In a release, he has stated that an agreement was arrived at the conclusion of a three-day meeting held in Chennai from August 20-22 between fishermen from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu to find a solution to problems in trans-border fishing that leads to arrests on both sides.
The agreement will be applicable from November 1 and is subject to approval by the two governments. It includes a number of restrictions on trawling by Indian fishermen such as number of days, fishing areas and timing.
The number of fishing days in a year will be restricted to 70 days; two days a week instead of three days. Fishing will take place for nine-and-a-half months. In addition to the usual break of six weeks during April to May, when mechanised boats are prohibited from fishing on India's east coast, an additional one-month break will be taken in September.
According to the release, trawlers will not be allowed to fish within a distance of three nautical miles from the Sri Lankan coast inside the Palk Bay.
However, in the Palk Straits and the Gulf of Mannar, the maximum distance to which the trawlers will be allowed to fish within Sri Lankan waters shall be five nautical miles from the India-Sri Lanka maritime border.
As far as the time is concerned, fishing in Sri Lankan waters shall be restricted to a total of 12 hours per trip.
K. Sooryakumar, leader of the 24-member Sri Lankan fishermen delegation, explains that trawling is banned in Sri Lanka and Indian trawlers are destroying the livelihood of Sri Lankan fishermen of the Northern Province. S.W. Pathirana, Director General of Fisheries, Sri Lanka, assured the members that his government will give serious consideration to the proposals put up by the fishermen of both countries.
