• Initial inquiry finds sailors acted lawfully, in Sri Lankan waters
• Firearm accidentally discharged during struggle with poachers following non-compliant boarding
• Poaching vessel ignored orders to stop, attempted to evade and maneuvered recklessly when boarding was attempted
• 13 Indian poachers remanded, 2 receiving treatment in Jaffna hospital

Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Vice Admiral Kanchana Banagoda yesterday (29) stated that according to initial investigations, the two Indian fishermen who were injured during a boarding operation of an Indian fishing boat poaching off Kankesanthurai (KKS) in Sri Lankan waters, were wounded due to the accidental discharge of a firearm of a Navy officer, following a struggle for a service weapon by some of the poachers.  

The incident is the latest in a growing trend of ‘aggressive maneuvering’ by Indian trawlers which violate Sri Lanka’s maritime boundaries on a weekly basis and plunder the fisheries resources on which the livelihoods of northern fishermen depend on. Increasingly, the cross border poaching has got emboldened and resists lawful commands by Sri Lankan authorities to stop and be boarded for investigation. 

When inquired by The Daily Morning if the Sri Lanka Navy acted in a lawful manner during the incident in question, Admiral Banagoda said: “The location of the intercept was only five nautical miles from the Sri Lanka coast, within our jurisdiction. It is a significant encroachment into our waters. We had issued visual and audible warnings to stop. Since the vessel did not heed our warnings, we were compelled to stop the vessel to see why they did not adhere to our warnings. They continued aggressive maneuvers, we had to carry out a non-compliant boarding to ascertain what the vessel was doing in our waters.”

The Navy Commander pointed out that such non-compliant boarding was risky for Sri Lankan sailors due to sea conditions and the aggressive maneuvering done by the poaching vessels. “When they use aggressive maneuvering it complicates an already risky situation. It is best if the parties compiled with the orders given,” he said.

When asked about the boarding and the discharge of a sailors small arms, Admiral Banagoda explained: “When the two sailors boarded the vessel, there had been an attempt to surround and grab these sailors. In that situation, there was an attempt at grabbing and removing the service weapon of one of the sailors by some of the fishermen and the preliminary report shows the discharge of the weapon was at a downward angle. Further investigations are ongoing. But the preliminary report has found that it was an accidental discharge of the service weapon during the struggle.” 

Banagoda pointed out that when the Navy issues orders to stop, the poaching vessels that comply are boarded, searched as per the law and handed over for legal action. It is non-compliance, aggressive maneuvers, and physical aggression by Indian fishermen which escalates the situation, the Navy pointed out.  

Meanwhile, the 13 Indian fishermen, who were arrested by the SLN on Tuesday for illegally entering the Sri Lankan waters off KKS were remanded until 10 February by the Mallakam Magistrate yesterday.

Two fishermen from the group, who were reportedly injured, are currently hospitalised. They had been rendered first said on site and transferred ashore for treatment promptly. 

India, on Tuesday (28), lodged a protest with Sri Lanka over a shooting incident involving the SLN during the apprehension of 13 Indian fishermen in the proximity of Delft Island in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that Sri Lanka’s Acting High Commissioner was called into the Foreign office to lodge the protest. “Our High Commission in Colombo has also raised the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sri Lankan Government,” the MEA said.

“The Government of India has always emphasised the need to treat issues pertaining to fishermen in a humane and humanitarian manner, keeping in mind livelihood-related concerns. The use of force is not acceptable under any circumstances whatsoever. Existing understandings between the two Governments in this regard must be strictly observed,” the Indian MEA said.

The seized Indian fishing boat and remaining fishermen were brought to the KKS harbour on Tuesday morning and they were handed over to the Myliddy Fisheries Inspector for onward legal action.

Each year, thousands of South Indian fishing vessels violate the long-established International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and damage Sri Lankan marine ecosystems with the destructive practice of bottom trawling.