Sri Lankan Navy arrests nine fishermen from Tamil Nadu, seizes 2 boats

The Sri Lankan Navy detained the fishermen on charges of poaching in Sri Lankan waters and took them to Kankesanthurai Port.

Since 2018, over 110 boats have been impounded by the Sri Lankan Navy and they have not been retrieved by the Indian government. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Nine fishermen from Mandapam, in Ramanathapuram district, who had ventured into the sea on Monday, July 24, 2023, were arrested by Sri Lankan Navy personnel on charges of poaching in the early hours of Tuesday.

According to information available in Rameswaram, the fishermen had gone into the sea to fish on Monday, and were scheduled to return to the shore by Tuesday at around noon. However, the Sri Lankan Navy detained the fishermen on charges of poaching in Sri Lankan waters and took them to the Kankesanthurai Port.

A senior official of the Fisheries Department gave the names of the fishermen as Arumugan, Manikandan, Kumar, Jayaseelan, Velu, Irulandi, Nallathambi, Suresh and Sivathaporiyan.

Speaking to The Hindu, fishermen leader Jesu Raja said only a few days ago, the Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickramasinghe had visited New Delhi and had held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other officials. “They don’t seem to have talked about the fishermen issue faced along the Palk Straits. This is why fishermen are being targeted by the Sri Lankan Navy,” he claimed.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin should immediately intervene and find a permanent solution for the fishermen as their livelihoods have been deeply affected due to such frequent arrests, Mr. Raja said.

It may be recalled that 15 fishermen from Rameswaram, who were fishing near Neduntheevu, were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in the early hours of Sunday, July 9, 2023.

The fishermen leader further said that Union External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar should take a delegation of fishermen from Tamil Nadu and hold talks with their Sri Lankan counterparts. Only by taking up this issue at the highest level, could the issue potentially be resolved; otherwise, the lives of fishermen would continue to be in jeopardy, he said.

With the CM likely to visit Ramanathapuram district next month for two days and Union Home Minister Amit Shah set to visit the coastal district on July 28 to flag off the party’s yatra, the fishermen are keeping their fingers crossed over developments in the region.

Since 2018, over 110 boats have been impounded by the Sri Lankan Navy and they have not been retrieved by the Indian government. The fishermen have lost equipment worth several crores of rupees due to these seizures, and the arrests have resulted in untold hardships to their families, fishermen leaders said.

At a time, when fishermen risked their lives and brought home huge catches of fish and enabled earnings of foreign exchange for the country through fish exports, fishermen and their families continued to be badly off, Samson, another fishermen leader in Rameswaram said.