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| Sunday, 13 July 2003 |
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Illegal Indian craft confiscated : Captive fishermen to be indicted by Elmo Leonard Indian fishing craft captured within Sri Lanka's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will be confiscated, the Mannar District Judge ruled last week, following his visit to Pesalai. The Navy seized eight Indian craft and arrested their crew in Pesalai last week. Six Indian crew skippers detained in the Anuradhapura remand jail will be produced in court. The 34 to 40 foot long Indian trawlers seized by the Navy were later released. The Sri Lankan fishermen urging for reciprocatory action, allege that due to the 'big-brother-attitude' of the Indian authorities, Sri Lankan fishing craft apprehended by the Indian Coast Guard are not released. They also claim that many Sri Lankan fishermen are serving long-term jail sentences in Indian prisons, for passing through the Indian EEZ on their way to fish in international waters, including the Arabian Sea. Indian High Commission sources in Colombo, however claimed that Sri Lankan fishermen were violating the international law. The six Indian trawler skippers arrested are part of 3000 rogue trawlers, detected to be operating five nautical miles from Mannar, in violation of the international law, Assistant Director of Fisheries in Mannar, Mohammed Ali Thayoob, said. According to the Pesalai Fisheries Co-operative Society, the Indian fishermen poach Rs. 600,000 worth giant Tiger Prawn and other high value species of fish every month. Wild-caught Tiger Prawn fetch $20.8 to $31.2 per kilo in USA, Germany and Japan, where it reaches. The Indian pirates, the local fishermen allege, bulldoze their way using 34 to 40 foot trawlers, fitted with six cylinder engines of 120 horsepower whereas the Sri Lankan fishing craft of 28 foot length, at most, are fitted with 32 horsepower engines. During the 20 - year war, fishermen in the Mannar district and along a 100-mile stretch, had migrated to other less fishing-restricted-areas. Now, the Mannar district has only 85 trawlers, and another 25 trawlers from Jaffna town come to fish here, Thayoob said. The Indians use banned nets, spaced at a sixteenth-of-an-inch and trawl at depths of 20 to 40 feet. The nets Sri Lankan fishermen use are legal floating drift nets, half-inch size and trawl at 10 to 20 feet depth, making it easy for the Indians to use their engine propellers to cut through local fishemen's nets, Thayoob alleged. |
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