Anguished over the continuing arrests of the fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and detention of their boats, the Rameswaram fishermen launched an indefinite strike on Thursday, bringing fishing activities to a grinding halt in this island.
About 780 Mechanised boats remained anchored at the fishing jetty here as more than 4,000 fishermen struck work, demanding the release of all the 43 fishermen — five arrested on July 16 and 38 arrested on July 21 along with 55 boats.
The strike was part of the three phase agitation launched by the fishermen. In the second phase, they proposed to surrender the Registration Certificate (RC) books of their boats to district collector K. Nanthakumar on July 28 and set sail to seek ‘refugee’ status in Katchatheevu on August 2 in the final phase, pressing for a lasting solution to the three decade long issue.
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The impounding of 55 boats by the Sri Lankan government after the arrest of more than 200 fishermen in the new fishing season, which began on June 1 was the major cause of worry for the fishing community as the strategy aimed at destroying the primary source of their livelihood, fishermen leader P. Sesu Raja, said.
In the last 58 days after the fishing season began, the Rameswaram fishermen had just 20 fishing days and only five fishing days were incident free, he said. On the other 15 days, the Lankan Navy arrested the fishermen, attacked them, damaged their boats or sunk their boats, he said.
The fishermen leaders urged the State and Union governments to take speedy steps to secure the release of all the fishermen and the boats. The boats would be damaged if they were left exposed to gusty winds, they said. They also appealed to the government to release all Sri Lankan fishermen.
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Fishermen of Jegadapattinam and Kottapattinam in Pudukottai have decided to launch a strike from Friday to condemn the recent arrest of fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.