- Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe made initial request in New Delhi
(COLOMBO) – India has remained silent on a request from Sri Lanka to allow an ‘innocent passage’ through the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in order to make it easy for the island’s fishermen to enter the Arabian Sea.
Colombo’s initial request in this regard was made by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe during an official visit to Delhi. The Indian route will help Lankan fishermen cut down the total distance by 400 nautical miles.
Sri Lankan fishermen are known to get detained by the Indian Coast Guard when they unlawfully enter Indian waters on their way to the Arabian Sea for fishing activities.
Apart from that there is a festering fisheries issue between both countries as thousands of fishing vessels from the South Indian State of Tamil Nadu venture into Sri Lanka’s northern coast and engage in poaching on a near daily basis.
Some 178 Indian fishermen have been arrested for alleged poaching in Sri Lankan waters and 23 boats have been apprehended from the start of this year alone, said Navy Spokesperson Captain Gayan Wickramasinghe.
He said the Navy will not stop their operations against the Indian poachers and towards this end they are been encouraged by the local Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda.
Devananda has repeatedly called on the navy to crackdown on the poachers saying their illegal activities were destroying the livelihoods of the local fishing community.
Devananda is also seeking to set up a special ‘Sea Guard’ unit made up of local fishermen to assist the navy against the poachers.
