Source: The Hindu
Author: Meera Srinivasan
India on Monday assured Sri Lanka that it would phase out bottom trawling in a “graded, time-bound manner”, pointing to upcoming initiatives to train Indian fishermen in alternative fishing methods.
According to a joint press communique released following ministerial-level talks on fisheries held in Colombo, Indian fishermen would participate in a capacity building progamme in Chennai and Kochi, beginning on January 3, that seeks to train them in other, less harmful fishing practices.
Sri Lanka Minister Mahinda Amaraweera. File photoMonday’s discussion was a follow-up to the high-level talks held in November, and to the Joint Working Group meeting in held last week, both in New Delhi.
Promising to phase out bottom-trawling — a destructive fishing practice posing serious threat to marine ecosystems — within a “practicable time frame”, India also briefed the Sri Lankan side about the construction of a fishing harbour in Ramanathapuram district, home to thousands of bottom-trawlers in Tamil Nadu.
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