Sunday, July 6, 2008

Sri Lanka warns fishermen to avert poaching in Indian waters

Sri Lanka's Minister of Fisheries Felix Perera said Saturday that continued action by his country's fishermen to poach in the neighboring Indian waters could cause a diplomatic row between the two South Asian neighbors.

"This can't go on. They must understand that it is illegal to enter (Indian) waters," Perera told reporters.

Perera said his ministry had to grapple with cases of hundreds of fishermen entering Indian waters.

"We have to negotiate when they are arrested and this has cost us a lot of money," the minister stressed.

The Indian and Sri Lankan authorities are constantly at negotiations to tackle poaching in each other's waters.

The Sri Lankan Navy too arrests Indian boats in the Sri Lankan maritime limits and have even accused the Indian fishermen of aiding Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

The LTTE has been fighting a decades old armed conflict in Sri Lanka to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the island's north and east.

Extracted from,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/05/content_8494798.htm

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