NAGAPATTINAM: Sri Lankan Navy has arrested eleven fishermen from Nagapattinam district on the wee hours of Friday for allegedly crossing the international maritime boundary line and fishing in Sri Lankan waters. They were taken to Sri Lanka for legal proceedings.
Seven of the arrested fishermens are from Akkaraipettai, three from Nambiyar Nagar and one from Kallaar in Nagapattinam district. They ventured into the sea in a mechanized boat on Thursday night and were fishing around 12 nautical miles southeast of Kodiyakarai (Point Calimere) at the time when a team from Northern Naval Command of Sri Lankan Navy caught them for crossing the borders.
The naval personnel detained the fishers, seized the boat were taken to the Kangesanthurai Fishing Harbour. Later, the arrested fishers were handed over to the officials from the Sri Lankan Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Myliddy.
According to Sri Lankan Navy, it has seized a total of 45 Indian trawlers and 333 Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters in 2024.
The fisherfolk panchayat representatives from Akkaraipettai met Nagapattinam District Collector P Akash and officials from Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare Department on Saturday and demanded the intervention of the Union and state governments to release the fishers and their seized boat.
The officials said that they have reported the incident to the head office of the Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare Department in Chennai.
Meanwhile, leaders like Pattali Makkal Katchi president Anbumani Ramadoss and Communist Party of India's Tamil Nadu state secretary R Mutharasan have condemned the arrest of the Indian fishers and urged the governments to intervene in this matter.