At the meeting with the families of the Fishermen who were on board the abducted vessel was held on 2024-05-06 at the Fisheries Ministry, the Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda stated that two months ago Somalian Pirates abducted a Sri Lanka Fishing Vessel and later on, the vessel with the fishermen on board was rescued by the Coast Guards of Seychelles. Diplomatic-level intervention has been made to bring these fishermen back to the country and as the Minister of Fisheries, he has discussed this issue at the Cabinet meeting on many occasions to bring the fishermen back to Sri Lanka and provided money for the maintenance of their families, as much as possible and as per the guidance of the President necessary instructions were provided to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Minister also said that he wished to express his deep regret for the delay in the process to bring these fishermen back to Sri Lanka. It took a long time for the Authorities of Seychelles as well as the Sri Lankan authorities to solve the legal issues in this regard and he would like to apologize on behalf of the Government.
However, the Minister pointed out that he is of the opinion that the fishermen would be brought back to Sri Lanka within this week and asked the members of these families to be patient until then.
A group of officials including the Secretary to the Ministry of Fisheries Miss. Nayana Kumari Somarathna and the Director General of the Department of Fisheries Mr. Susantha Kahawaththa attended this event.
