Indian fishermen furious over frequent arrests by Lankan navy, seek Government help

With the Sri Lankan navy arresting six more Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in its waters, a fishermen’s group yesterday sought the federal government’s intervention for a permanent solution to the longstanding issue.

The fishermen were arrested on Wednesday for trespassing into the territorial waters of Sri Lanka and two of their trawlers were also seized by the Sri Lankan authorities.

The Sri Lankan navy confirmed this in a brief communiqué published on its website.

The Indian fishermen were arrested when they “had been fishing 3.5 nautical miles and 5.2 nautical miles north-west of Kovilan Point,” the statement said.

The Sri Lankan navy had arrested 15 Indian fishermen seized two boats on Tuesday.

Secretary of the Fishermen Association, Kalaikudam Sagayam, on Thursday said that the fishermen were scared and asked the federal government to take strong steps to resolve the issue.

“A few days back Sri Lanka arrested 15 fishermen and seized our boats and now they have arrested six more fishermen. Despite our state government raising the issue with the federal government no action had been taken in this regard. If this goes on soon all our boats will be in the hands of the Sri Lankan navy,” said Sagayam in Tamil Nadu state’s Rameswaram city.

The arrested fishermen and trawlers were taken to Kareinagar to be handed over to Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Jaffna) for further action.

Sri Lanka has long fumed over poaching and illegal fishing by Indian fishermen, who they accuse of depleting the catches of Sri Lanka’s own fishermen.

Arrests of Indian fishermen have angered those in India’s nearby southern state of Tamil Nadu and became a regional issue in campaigning for the Indian general election last April.

Last year, relations between Sri Lanka and its huge neighbour took a hit as five Indian fishermen were sentenced to death by the island nation for drug trafficking.

Such was the outrage against Sri Lanka’s decision in India that New Delhi had to intervene. Prolonged diplomatic deliberations held behind closed doors eventually led the then Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to pardon the fishermen.