Sri Lanka announced on Wednesday that its Navy has intensified patrolling around the international maritime borders to prevent Indian fishermen from engaging in illegal bottom trawling in the island nation’s territorial waters.Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other’s waters.
“We have increased patrolling and arrests,” government spokesperson and Minister of Information Nalinda Jayathissa told reporters here.
“Our actions will continue while having talks with the Indian authorities on the issue,” Jayathissa said in response to a query.
The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters.