The first batch of salvage team of 58 fishermen returned home on Sunday, salvaging nine trawlers berthed in Karainagar naval base in northern Sri Lanka after the Island Nation’s navy had confiscated them on charges of trespassing into their waters, about three years ago.
The fishermen, who set sail in nine trawlers on January 17, towed the salvaged nine boats to the Rameswaram fishing jetty as the second batch of 21 Pudukottai fishermen set sail in five boats to salvage as many trawlers kept in Karainagar.
Fishermen leader P. Sesu Raja, who was camping in Jaffna and coordinating the salvage operation with officials, said the salvage team took the nine trawlers after pumping out water from the boats.
Due to years of neglect, sea water had seeped into the boats and the team pumped out the water with the help of electric motors, he said. The team left Karainagar in the early hours of Sunday after towing the salvaged boats.
They were escorted up to the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) by the Lankan navy. On being handed over, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) escorted them to the fishing jetty, officials said. Thanking the Centre and State governments for helping the fisher folk to salvage the boats, confiscated by the Lankan navy since 2015, though in a belated action, Mr. Sesu Raja appealed to the governments to help the owners refurbish the boats as it would require a minimum of ₹5 lakh each to put the boats back into the sea for fishing.
Only 47 out of 170
Though the Lankan government had ordered the release of more than 170 boats, only 47 which were in salvageable condition were being brought back, he said and requested the government to compensate fishermen whose boats had suffered extensive damage and could not be salvaged. Officials said the second batch of 21 Pudukottai fishermen reached Karainagar on Sunday evening and was expected to return back in two days. They would be followed by Nagapattinam fishermen, who would salvage boats of their colleagues, also kept in Karainagar, they said.
A team of officials led by Johny Tom Varghese, Additional Director of Fisheries (Ramanathapuram) was supervising the salvage operation. The boats to be salvaged were berthed in Karainagar, Kiranchi, Kalpitiya and Trincomallee.
