For the second time in just over two weeks, a second group of 43 Indians has been caught fishing in Sri Lankan waters, off the east coast.
The Sri Lankan Navy, which apprehended them and seized six boats near Pulmodai on Tuesday night, have handed over the fishermen to the local police at Trincomalee. The police will produce them before a magistrate on Thursday. “There was a whole fleet of boats fishing in Sri Lankan waters. We could apprehend only these many people and the boats,” Navy spokesperson Kosala Warnakulasuriya told The Hindu .
The action comes four days after Indian fishermen complained that the Sri Lankan Navy attacked them while they were fishing off Kachchatheevu. The shift in current patterns, and the growing assertiveness of the northern Sri Lankan fishermen and their protectors are driving Tamil Nadu fishermen towards Sri Lanka's east coast in search of a better catch.
The media in the east have been critical of the Sri Lankan Navy for not doing enough to keep off Indian fishermen. There was criticism this past week, and the Navy has been chasing away the fishermen who come in very large groups.
The Sri Lankan Navy said the local fishermen complained that their nets were being torn because of bottom trawling by the Indians. “There have been many instances in the past week in which the Indian fishermen have been hardly five nautical miles from the Sri Lankan coastline,” one officer said. “And, we are not even talking about the northern coast. This is happening in the east.”
The Indian and Sri Lankan governments have agreed not to jail fishermen straying into each other's territory. This raises the hopes of early release of the 43 fishermen.
The Indian High Commission in Colombo has rushed its officials to Trincomalee to assist them. The IHC provides a host of services — food, clothing, shelter and legal assistance.
Collector's assurance
Nagapattinam Staff Reporter reports:
All the 43 fishermen are from Nagapattinam and they ventured out on Monday. According to the panchayatdar of the Akkaraipettai fishing habitation, the villagers received a communication of the late-night detention from one of the boat crew members. Following this, the fisherfolk struck work.
Addressing the media, Collector T. Munusamy said the government had intervened through the Indian High Commission, and the fishermen were expected to be handed over to the Indian Navy on Friday morning.
