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Lanka to take up bottom trawling

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When Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visits Colombo next week, the government is to take up the issue of Indian fishermen entering Sri Lanka’s northern territorial waters three days a week and engaging in illegal bottom trawling, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda said.

The Indian fishermen are expected to be back in Sri Lankan waters after a two-month-long annual breeding ban was lifted on Friday.

When President Ranil Wickremesinghe visited New Delhi last Sunday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the matter was raised at a meeting with Minister Dr. Jaishnakar.

“As a nation, we have to protect our resources, interests, and the livelihood of our fisherfolks. I hope to raise the issue in the next Cabinet meeting (June 19) as well,” Minister Devananda said.

Days before the Indian authorities lifted the annual breeding ban, a group of fishermen’s unions based in the North handed over a petition on Tuesday to officials at the Indian consulate office in Jaffna requesting India to take immediate steps to prevent Indian fishermen from coming into Sri Lankan waters at the expense of their livelihood.

The fishermen’s unions, which formed a collective called the Northern Fishermen’s Alliance, requested President Wickremesinghe

in a petition to urge Indian authorities to “expedite their maximum efforts to monitoring and preventing the daily incursion of thousands of Tamil Nadu trawlers every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday evenings.”

The two-month-long ban, which came into effect on April 14 and was lifted on Friday, is enforced to facilitate the breeding of fish banks in the ocean and maintain the equilibrium of marine sources for sustainability.

Currently, Indian fishermen who engage in fishing in Sri Lankan territorial waters are arrested by the Navy and Coast Guard and subjected to legal action after their trawlers are seized.

Following the legal action in which the magistrate courts hand in a suspended sentence of eighteen months for engaging in fishing without a licence, fishermen are released and repatriated with the assistance of Indian diplomatic missions.

(sundaytimes.lk)

(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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Korean SME Association offers support to SL

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The Korean Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Association has expressed its commitment to support Sri Lanka in advancing the agriculture sector and enhancing related employment opportunities.

Additionally, the association has agreed to provide technical assistance and training resources essential for the development of the fishing industry.

These topics were highlighted during a meeting held today (13) at the Presidential Secretariat between a delegation from the Korean SME Association and officials from the President’s Office.

The discussions also focused on training Sri Lankan workers locally for Korea’s fishing industry and creating employment opportunities for them.

The delegation was led by Kim Chung Ryong, President  of the Korean SME Association.

(President’s Media Division)

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US embassy lifts travel restrictions issued for Arugam Bay

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The US Embassy Colombo has lifted travel restrictions issued on October 23, 2024, for Arugam Bay. 

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Pilot project to issue e-BMD certificates to Lankans overseas

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The government has announced a new initiative to issue copies of birth, marriage, and death certificates to Sri Lankans living abroad through Sri Lankan embassies, aimed at providing greater convenience to the expatriate community.

The program will be launched as a pilot project across seven selected foreign missions, including the embassies in Kuwait, Japan, and Qatar, and the consulates in Melbourne (Australia), Toronto (Canada), Milan (Italy), and Dubai (UAE).

In Sri Lanka, efforts are underway to enhance the e-BMD (electronic Birth, Marriage, and Death) database system, which is jointly managed by the Registrar General’s Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This will allow birth, marriage, and death certificates to be issued through foreign embassies, following a model already in place for obtaining certificates at Divisional Secretariat offices across Sri Lanka.

In the initial phase, only the approximately 45 million birth, marriage, and death certificates that have already been scanned and stored in the e-BMD system will be issued.

These will include records for births, marriages, and deaths that have been registered since January 1, 1960. While the majority of these records will be available, there may be occasional delays in updating certificates that have been revised after their initial entry into the database.

(President’s Media Division)

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