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| Sunday, 22 September 2002 |
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Captive Indian fishermen, boats released by P. Krishnaswamy Last Wednesday's midnight drama in the high seas off Pesalai, Mannar, in which local fishermen seized 24 Indian trawlers and kept their 105 crew under detention, ended the following night. The Sri Lankan fishermen released their Indian counterparts, who poached on their traditional fishing territory, following intervention by the Mannar Bishop, the Rev. Fr. Rayappu Joseph, Mannar GA, V. Viswalingam, Senior Indian High Commission diplomat, K.S. Gokulachandran and DIG for the Vanni Range, Dharmaratne. A spokesman for the Pesalai Fishermen's Co-operative Society told the 'Sunday Observer' that the Indian trawlers and their crew were released after Mr. Gokulachandran agreed to take action to prevent further poaching and release some 216 local fishing boats detained in India. The Mannar fishermen had been complaining to the local authorities that regular poaching of Indian fishermen in the coastal waters had depleted fish and prawn stocks, the spokesman said. Fish and prawn to the value of about Rs. 100 million were harvested per day by the Indian poachers who came in about 2000 fishing boats and trawlers and this was a big threat to the livelihood of about 3,000 fisher families of the village, he added. A 15 - year fishing ban on the Northern fishermen under the Sea Security Act was lifted only a few months ago. |
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