In yet another fresh incident, the Sri Lankan Navy personnel arrested 22 fishermen from Pamban and Thangachimadam in Ramanathapuram district on charges of poaching and impounded two country boats, on Saturday.
According to official sources in the Fisheries Department, the Sri Lankan Navy personnel had detained the fishermen under charges of poaching into their waters. It is said that the country boat fishermen were allegedly fishing at Parithithurai, which falls under Sri Lankan waters.
Denying it, fishermen leader Rayappan, who is also the president of country boat fishermen association, told media persons that the Sri Lankan Navy had been arresting mechanised boat fishermen. Now, even the country boats, which cannot go beyond five or 10 nautical miles, were also being held.
The fishermen associations have condemned the arrest and claimed that it was factually incorrect to say that the country boat fishermen had crossed the IMBL, they said.
According to reports available here, the detained fishermen were being taken to Jaffna Port and handed over to the Sri Lankan Fisheries Department authorities for further legal action, official sources said.
Appeal to Centre
At a time, when the mechanised boat fishermen have been pleading with the Union government to help bring back the arrested fishermen from Sri Lanka, the fresh arrest of 22 more fishermen had come as a rude shock, said P Jesu Raja, fishermen association leader. “We are hoping for a permanent solution as our livelihood is deeply hit,” he added.
Apart from the “unsafe” conditions in the Palk Bay, the fishermen said that due to weather conditions too, they have been advised not to venture into the sea. After the deepavali festival, when fishermen had set into the sea, such arrests had dampened the spirits and the families/dependents are under continued threat.
Last month, a delegation of fishermen led by DMK MP T. R. Baalu met the Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan in New Delhi on instructions from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. They had urged the Centre to seek to free the 64 arrested fishermen in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, the courts released 63 fishermen on bail. One fisherman, ‘a second-time offender’, was sentenced to two-year imprisonment.
Condemning the jail term, the fishermen had appealed to the Union government to intervene and help the community to venture into the sea in a safe environment.
