Emphasising the need to resolve the Tamil fishermen issue, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday  said unless a solution is found there will be a “lot of problems” for the country’s fishermen who are being deprived of their catch.

Fishermen from Tamil Nadu being detained and their boats getting captured by Sri Lankan authorities has been a sensitive political issue in South India.

“Fishermen from both sides are Tamils. The dispute is in the waters where the Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen fish. Generally, we don’t keep them (Indian fishermen) in custody and few were released before I came here. We have not kept anyone but we have to find a solution and that has to come. (Otherwise) there will be a lot of problems in Sri Lanka,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.

He was responding to a question on whether the whole issue of Tamil fishermen has been resolved or not. “We told him that we are arranging for the ministers to come and finalize it and make some progress. Water trawling is a big issue and that is damaging fishes,” he said when asked whether the Tamil fishermen issue was discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit, he said that fishing in Sri Lankan waters by others is depriving the local fishermen of their catch. “Problem of fishermen is that he can’t find money and his catch is taken by someone else. They are coming under pressure,” he further noted.

When asked whether there has been good progress in addressing the issue, Prime Minister said there are talks in November. “I hope there is some progress. Lot of pressure is coming on our Ministers,” he added.