Indian trawler flees abandoning net with fish valued Rs.250,000

By Kelum Bandara  

An Indian trawl boat, in its rush to evade seizure by Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities, had abandoned the net with a fish stock valued Rs.250,000, an incident offering a glimpse of the total loss to the Sri Lankan fisheries sector due to poaching, a minister said yesterday.   

Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar told Daily Mirror the boat operators concerned had cut off the trawl net and fled.  

Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar told Daily Mirror the boat operators concerned had cut off the trawl net and fled.  
The incident had occurred on Friday.  

The Minister said his office is currently in the process of assessing the total loss to Sri Lanka annually because of poaching by fishermen from Tamil Nadu, India.  

“If this is the value of one trawl net left behind, we can imagine the total loss. There are thousands of trawl boats involved in poaching,” he said.  

He said the maximum value of catch of a Sri Lankan boat is around Rs.50,000 only.