Sri Lankan fishing boats drift towards Myanmar waters

Fishermen to return this week:

By Manjula Fernando

Nearly 200 fishermen and their 41 boats drifted to Myanmar due to the cyclonic weather near Andaman island waters are expected to be sent back within five to seven days.

The Fisheries Department Director General Nimal Hettiarachchi said none of the boats or the fishermen have been harmed due to bad weather and they will be returned without any legal impediment except for three boats apprehended earlier.

In the case of the first three boats court proceedings have been initiated.

These boats were apprehended by the Myanmar Navy on Monday, but the Sri Lankan authorities are confident that these three boats along with the 17 fisherman will be released by the local authorities. The three boats are Sun City 09, Rohana Putha 2 and Sanjana Duwa 6.

The other 41 boats with nearly 200 fishermen on board were anchored 90 kilometres from the Myanmar coast on Friday, waiting to return once the sea becomes calm.

"The weather in the Bay of Bengal is expected to return to normal within the coming two days and they can embark on their return journey then," DG Hettiarachchi told the Sunday Observer.

The 41 boats relayed distress calls to the radar communication stations of the Fisheries Department on Tuesday that they were caught up in a severe weather condition and they could not hold ground.

Last year about 50 fishermen perished when they were swept away in a severe sea storm off Sri Lanka's western coast.

The tropical cyclone Hudhud to which the fishermen were caught up developed as a depression in the bay of Bengal earlier this week. It churned over the sea near Andaman islands before it turned into a severe storm on Saturday hovering above Andra Pradesh bringing heavy rain and gusting winds.

Fisheries Department Assistant Director, Lal de Silva said the stranded boats left Sri Lanka between September 20 to 30 and were fishing in deep seas off 600 - 700 nautical miles off Trincomalee when they were met withdistress. The deep sea boats were from Trincomalee, Devundara, Mirissa, Beruwala, Tangalle and Kottegoda.

When the distress call was received on Tuesday, the fisheries Ministry through the External Affairs Ministry conveyed Bangladeshi and Myanmar authorities that 30 to 40 Sri Lankan fishing boats, that were in international waters near Andaman Islands were drifting towards their countries, and sought their clearance for entry into their Exclusive Economic Zone.

"All boats have entered Myanmar and the authorities have allowed them to remain in their waters till the weather subsides," the Assistant Director said.

The wind speed in the sea areas where the fishermen first got affected have come down to 20/30 knots now. The Fisheries department said the fishing boats may return to the country or they will venture out on a another fishing expedition on way home so that they will not get back empty handed.

These boats are stockpiled with food, water and fuel to last for 30 - 45 days.

The Fisheries Department has set up 21 radar communication centres along the coastal line from Kalpitiya to Kirinda and Trincomalee to Kalmunai to receive and relay communication between fishing boats and land, especially covering multi-day fishing trawlers on trips that last for weeks.

With the main station at the Fisheries Department in Colombo the Department operate 12 central stations 24 hours a day.

They maintain communication between the boats and the land, send weather warnings and receive distress calls. De Silva said they also relay information to fishermen out at sea on fishing grounds transmitted weekly by NARA.

The deep water fishing boats are equipped with radio communication, fish finders, radars and global positioning systems (GPS) which gives them an idea of the speed, course and the position of the craft and unless they were in a distress situation, these vessels have a narrow chance of crossing into our territorial waters of other countries.