As SL foreign ministry Mangala Samaraweera revealed, the Indian trawler issue is one of the highest priority given in the discussion.
In relation to Ms. Swaraj's visit, SL fisheries minister also raise his concern over bottom trawling of TN fishermen.
I quoted the following important news item appeared in Daily News news paper today.
The link is as follows too.: http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=
The
Sri Lankan government will emphasise to Indian External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj that Sri Lanka in no way accepts bottom trawling
by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters, Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources Development Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
He said that in a situation where the Sri Lankan government banned a variety of fishing nets, known by locals as
"Laila and Surukku" which is far less harmful than bottom trawling, the Sri Lankan Government cannot tolerate bottom trawling.
He
made these observations yesterday in response to a question raised by a
journalist at a press conference held at the Ministry Auditorium.
Minister
Amaraweera further said that Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera had
promised to give priority to this matter during discussions with his
Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj during her visit to Sri Lanka.
He
added that he also brought the matter up at a Cabinet meeting and the
President and the Prime Minister both agreed not to allow bottom
trawling.
"However,
the Indian government too has agreed with our concerns and had conveyed
a positive response to Sri Lanka through their High Commissioner,"
Minister Amaraweera said.
"The
Indian Government has also decided to make budgetary allocations to
provide facilities for their fishermen. However, the numbers of
fishermen is so large that they cannot provide facilities at once".
The minister further said that the usage of Laila and Surukku fishing nets will be bsnned after February 21.
He also added that those nets can be used by individual boats and not by a fleets of boats, without using divers.
He added that these varieties of fishing nets had to be banned following a the results of NARA research.
"Another reason is that a very few fishermen used dynamite while using these fishing nets,"Minister Amaraweera said.
"That was another contributing factor to ban these types of fishing nets," he said.
He also added that authorities have been instructed to take stern action against the use of dynamite.
Action
will also be taken against those who have dynamite in their possession,
kill fish using them and transporting and selling the fish killed using
dynamite.
He
also added that a thorough investigation will also be conducted against
those who possessed dynamite to ascertain as to where he or she got the
dynamite and if it were intended to used in terrorist activities.
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