Fishermen leaders of Northern Sri Lanka have sought legal action to deter Indian fishermen from illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters, The Hindu reported.

They have said Indian fishermen who were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy for fishing illegally in Sri Lankan waters, were handed over to the police or the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and produced before the nearest magistrate court. They had been subsequently charged under Section 45 of the Immigration and Emigration Act, and remanded for illegally entering Sri Lanka without a visa, and not for fishing illegally, they said in an October 16 petition.

“We appreciate the court’s decision to release the fishermen while detaining their trawlers. This has brought down the number of Indian trawlers coming to our waters, but appropriate legal provisions have to be used,” Mohamed Alam of the Mannar District Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Union has told The Hindu. He, along with Anthony Emiliyanpillai, president of the Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Union, has petitioned the Attorney-General’s office regarding the matter.

The fishermen’s leaders have maintained that a long-term solution to the persistent issue of Indian trawlers allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters and engaging in bottom trawling would require a more focused legal approach. They have urged the courts to use specific provisions of the Sri Lanka’s Fisheries (Regulation of Foreign Fishing Boats) Act of 1979.

Fishermen in the Tamil-majority Northern Province are among the worst hit by the Indian trawlers that allegedly fish illegally along their coast.

Currently, 24 Indian fishermen and 76 trawlers are in Sri Lankan custody.
(with inputs from The Hindu)