Sri Lankan fishermen associations are on debate to reach a consensus on proposals made during the recent visit of their 23-member delegation to Tamil Nadu. Fishermen’s representatives of two nations has pushed the proposal, which is a major cross-border fishing issues. S. Thavaratnam, Chairman of the Federation of Jaffna District Fishermen’s Unions, said that these proposals include the gradual withdrawal of Indian fishing trawlers from Sri Lankan territorial fishing grounds, restrictions on the hours and days of fishing by Indian fishing vessels, methods of fishing to prevent the depletion of fish and prawn life and monitoring by committees appointed by the two governments.
Sri Lankan Fisheries Department Director General S. W. Pathirana, who attended the discussions on the final day in Chennai, and Project Officers W. S. Lal de Silva and N. Thilakaratne who were present throughout the one-week-long discussions also confirmed that both sides are signatories to the proposals. The salient features of the proposals to which both sides agreed are: restriction on fishing by Indian vessels in Sri Lankan waters to 70 days a year during the hours 4 p.m. to 4 a.m.; complete withdrawal of mechanised trawler fishing within one year; in the Palk Straits north of Mannar Island, fishing to be carried out beyond a distance of three nautical miles from the Sri Lankan shore (fishing to be carried out seawards from Palathivu and Iranaitivu); use of pair trawlers to be discontinued forthwith; number of boats coming from India to be limited and all conditions for fishing (by Indian trawlers) to be monitored with the help of the two governments.
