‘Indian boats will be released only if SL fishermen agree’

29 April 2017 05:52 am

The boats of Indian fisherman which are now in Sri Lankan custody will only be released with the consent of the fisheries associations in the North, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.

Minister Amaraweera recently said the government had not decided to discuss on the release of these boats during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka.

“We have paid attention to release some of these boats in future since the Indian government has taken reasonable steps to solve this issue. There is nothing wrong in doing so,” he said.

However, he said a flexible policy should always be followed to solve this issue and added that the Ministry would release these boats only with the approval of the representatives of the fisheries associations in North. (Kalathma Jayawardhane)