FISHING IN INDIAN AND INDONESIAN WATERS

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Ho See Beng asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in view of the frequent arrests of Singapore fishermen by the Indian and Indonesian authorities for fishing in Indian or Indonesian territorial waters, if his Ministry will approach the Governments of India and Indonesia with a view to seeking an arrangement whereby Singapore fishermen may be permitted to fish in Indian and Indonesian territorial waters on payment by them of a tax or royalty.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr S. Rajaratnam): Mr Speaker, Sir, first, I think it is necessary for the Member to appreciate that national territorial waters are very jealously guarded by the nations that claim these waters. In fact, there will be a number of international conferences held under the auspices of the United Nations and developing countries of the world to resolve law of the sea matters arising out of territorial water claims. Therefore, the proposal by the Member is not likely to be acceptable to the nations concerned, since the basic problems underlying fishing rights have yet to be resolved in the context of the law of the sea.

With regard to the Member's suggestion that my Ministry might negotiate with the governments concerned to allow Singapore fishermen to enter their territorial waters to fish, I wish to inform the Member that this has already been tried. The Ministry of National Development went even further and proposed payment of royalties to a number of countries where our fishermen are allegedly intruding into their territorial waters to fish. The response to such approaches, I am sorry to say, has not been favourable because of defence and security requirements. There are also problems relating to piracy and the control of nationals of these countries fishing in their own territorial waters.

Since the Government has failed to obtain an agreement for licensing of Singapore fishermen in such territorial waters, it might be perhaps better that the applications by individuals to do so would be given more favourable consideration, and I propose that the Member could take up this proposal with the fishermen concerned.