Fishermen held at Diego Garcia returns

Thiruvananthapuram: Fishermen from the city, who had been detained at Diego Garcia Island in Indian Ocean by the British Navy since May 27 for entering into restricted territorial waters, reached the capital on Monday. They met fisheries minister J Mercykutty Amma here on Monday for thanking the government for intervening to rescue them.
The minister cautioned the fishermen against venturing into restricted zone as the British Navy has warned of stringent punishment against those who enter into restricted territorial waters.To prevent such incidents, awareness programmes should be conducted for the fishermen, she 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 M P Vincent, ex-MLA Jameela Prakasham and fisheries director Mini Antony were present.
The fishermen were released after a coordinated effort by the central-state governments, fisheries department and MoEF. The fisheries minister had visited New Delhi to discuss the release of the fishermen with the MoEF.
Of the 19 fishermen released, six are from Thiruvananthapuram, 12 from Kanyakumari and one from Assam. The released fishermen are Poovar residents Lawrence, Saijan, Augustine Das, Ernest, Pozhiyoor natives Kunjumon, Poonthura residents Joseph and Fabiyan, Virivila residents Moideen Anwar, Valavila resident Antony, Thuthuva residents Jerin Kennedy, Marthandan port residents Joy Antony, Antony Prasad, Antonys R, Sunil, Nirodi resident Jinnees, Ajith and Assam native Rudo.
On the Centre's mandatory insistence on colour-coded boats for each state to ensure proper identification and for security reasons, the fisheries minister said it has to ensured during the trawling ban period. National Fish workers Federation (NFF) national secretary T Peter said as part of security measures all the fishermen have to ensure implementation of the colour code before the trawl ban ends. According to the home ministry, each coastal state should have its own colour coding for boats. The home ministry has instructed that the hull of all registered mechanised fishing vessels should be painted dark blue, while orange colour should be given to wheel houses.