Fishermen from the south Indian state of Kerala detained since May 27 at Diego Garcia Island in Indian Ocean by the British Navy for entering into restricted territorial waters and released following government intervention, met Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma here on Monday. The Minister cautioned the fishermen from getting caught unawares for venturing into restricted zones as the British Navy has warned of stringent punishment against those who enter into restricted territorial waters.
To prevent such a trend, awareness programmes have to be conducted for the fishermen, the Minister said. As a first step towards that, a Ministerial level meet will be convened soon as per the recommendations of the Central government involving representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs (MoEF) and British High Commission (BHC) officials, she said. Kovalam MLA Vincent MP, MLA Jameela Prakasham and Fisheries director Mini Antony were present.
The release of the fishermen from detention was made possible through the intervention of the Central, State government and Fisheries department with MoEF and BHC. Fisheries Minister had visited New Delhi to discuss with the MoEF for the release of detained fishermen.
Among the 19 fishermen released, six were from Thiruvananthapuram, 12 from Kanyakumari and one person from Assam. The released fishermen include Poovar natives Lawrence, Saijan, Augustine Das, Ernest, Pozhiyoor natives Kunjumon, Poonthura natives Joseph and Fabiyan, Virivila native Moideen Anwar, Valavila native Antony, Thuthuva natives Jerin, Kennedy, Marthandan port native Joy Antony, Antony Prasad, Antony, RPH Antony, Sunil, Nirodi natives Jinnees, Ajith Kumar and Assam native Rudo.
On the Centre’s mandatory insistence of colour-coded boats for each state to ensure proper identification and for security reasons, Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma said it has to be in place during this 47-day trawling ban season from June 15. Each state has a separate colour code for boats to identify it, so that it becomes easier by respective states to warn them from entering into restricted territorial waters.
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