Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda says that the Sri Lankan government rejected a request made by the Tamil Nadu government to allow them to enter the country’s territorial waters and catch fish.
He mentioned that Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister Mr. Anitha Radha Krishnan made this request in a telephone conversation.
In that telephone conversation, the Minister of Fisheries of Tamil Nadu has made a request for permission to enter the Sea of Sri Lanka for a limited period of time until the fisheries issue between the two countries is resolved.
Minister Douglas Devananda mentioned that only after the Tamil Nadu government assures that Indian fishermen will stop entering the country’s waters, the fisheries issue can be discussed.
In the meantime, Minister of Foreign Affairs, President’s Counsel Mr. Ali Sabri said that there had been no response from the Indian government to the request to restart the Indo-Sri Lankan fisheries talks.
The last time a discussion was held on the Indo-Sri Lankan fisheries issue was in March 2022.
The court recently sentenced 5 Indian fishermen who were found guilty of two charges of entering the territorial waters of Sri Lanka for the second time and entering the territorial waters of Sri Lanka using GPS devices.
After that, fishermen started protests in various areas including Rameswan in Tamil Nadu and fishermen in Jaffna went to the Indian sea border last Saturday and raised black flags and protested.
In the first two months of the year alone, 88 Indian fishermen and 12 vessels were arrested for violating the country’s territorial waters.
