RAMANATHAPURAM
After a lull, Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 12 fishermen from Rameswaram and detained their two trawlers on a charge of fishing in its territorial waters.
The fishermen, along with about 2,000 others, set out for fishing from Rameswaram jetty on Monday. They were fishing on the high seas north-east of Katchatheevu in the evening when the Lankan navy personnel attached to the Northern Naval Command arrested them, reports received here said.
On being handed over to the fisheries department officials in Jaffna, the 12 fishermen were produced before the magistrate court in Kayts on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody till September 26. They were lodged in Jaffna prison, U. Arulanandham, president of Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen, said. The impounded trawlers were anchored at the naval base in Karainagar.
Condemning the incident, fishermen leaders said arrests continued unabated even after the Rameswaram island fishermen decided to take to deep sea fishing and sought time for phasing out trawlers in the Palk Bay.
Pointing out that almost all the 36 trawlers ordered to be released by the Sri Lankan government had suffered extensive damage and were yet to be salvaged, the fishermen leaders urged the State and Central governments to secure the release of the remaining – more than 130 – boats at the earliest. The boats would become unusable if the governments failed to secure their release before the onset of north-east monsoon, they said.
