Sri Lanka has decided to fix transponders in 4,200 multi-day ocean-going boats which will help them to track them through a vessel monitoring system. The grant from the Australian government will be used for this purpose.

The Sri Lankan cabinet on Tuesday cleared the proposal for procurement of the equipment by the International Organization on Migrants utilizing a grant of $4.16 million granted by the Home Affairs Department of Australia, reported Economy Next. Earlier in 2015, the government had fixed transponders to 1,250 tuna boats under Indian Ocean Tuna Commission rules.

Significantly, just days earlier, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had a meeting with the Australian ambassador to Colombo. 

A statement from the Sri Lankan government said, “Apart from those vessels that equipment should be affixed to another 4200 such multi-day fishing vessels.” The country adopted a satellite-based monitoring system after the European Union slapped a ban on fish imports from Sri Lanka in 2014.

(SAM)