A couple of days after arresting three Pudukottai fishermen, the Sri Lankan navy on Wednesday arrested seven fishermen from Mandapam and confiscated their two trawlers on charges of engaging in bottom trawling.
The fishermen, who set out on Wednesday morning from Mandapam fishing jetty, were fishing on the high seas northwest of Delft island in the evening, when the navy from northern naval command arrested them, according to reports received here.
The navy took the arrested fishermen to Kankesanthurai with their trawlers (IND TN 11 MM 277 and INDTN 11 MM 346) and fishing gears and handed them over to the fisheries officials in Jaffna on Thursday, the reports said.
Remanded till July 27
The fisheries officials produced them before the Magistrate court in Kayts on Thursday, after which, they were remanded in judicial custody in Jaffna jail till July 27, U Arulanandham, president of the Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF) said.
Though the Lankan navy in its official website said that the fishermen were arrested for engaging in ‘bottom trawling’ in Sri Lankan territorial waters, Mr Arulanandham, quoting his sources, said the fishermen were not arrested under the provisions of the new legislation.
The Sri Lankan government, on July 6, announced banning of bottom trawling in its territorial waters.
The government warned two years imprisonment and fine of SLR 50,000 for the violators.
The Mandapam fishermen were the second batch of fishermen arrested by the Lankan navy after the island government came out with the new legislation.
