The Sri Lankan government on Monday has finally decided to allow 250 Tamil Nadu trawlers to fish in the Lankan waters on specific days as an ad hock measure to deal with frequent poaching by Tamil Nadu trawlers, according to a report in The New Indian Express.
According to sources, this step can prove to be advantageous for the Lankan government as around 3000 trawlers from Tamil Nadu, have been depleting marine resources of the country by illegally fishing in the Northern Lankan waters every day.
TNIE further reported that though trawling has not been banned in the island nation yet, earlier this year Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, M A Sumathiran in the Lankan Parliament moved a bill seeking a total ban on bottom trawling in Sri Lanka.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had said that the bill would be sent to nine Lankan provinces to seek their consent. However, Sumanthiran argued saying that consent from all the nine provinces are not required because, under the 13th Amendment of Lankan constitution, fisheries are a central subject and Colombo alone can decide.
The Tamil Nadu government had earlier asked the Sri Lankan government to release 67 Indian fishermen and 98 boats who were caught for poaching. However, the Lankan government has refused to cooperate as yet.
