Sri Lanka’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Mahinda Amaraweera has said that the government has turned down a request from India to release around 120 boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen that are under custody of Sri Lanka, according to a report in a local newspaper. The Fisheries Minister has told English weekly The Sunday Leader that India has made a request to release the boats but the boats will not be released since they were seized for entering Sri Lankan waters illegally. Indian Union Minister of State Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan last week said the central government of India would secure the release of 115 boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen during the ministerial-level meeting between India and Sri Lanka, scheduled for January 2, 2017. Sri Lanka Navy arrests the Indian fishermen breaching the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and entering island’s territorial waters for poaching and confiscates the boats. Even though the fishermen are later released on humanitarian grounds their vessels and fishing gear will not be released.
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