RAMANATHAPURAM: Amid the unending saga of arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, it has come to light that during the last 10 years, as many as 365 TN fishing boats worth more than Rs 150 crore had been nationalised by the island nation.
According to RTI data received by TNIE from the Consulate General of India in Jaffna, the Lankan government seized 558 Indian fishing boats for various violations from 2014 to August 2024. Of them, the government had nationalised 365 boats (including 13 seized in 2024) following court orders.
Though 193 boats were released by the neighbouring country, 21 of them are still stuck in Sri Lanka after release as the salvage process, the legal and physical steps involved in bringing them back to India, is both time-consuming and costly.
The salvage process for 12 boats is under way, but permission for a salvage crew from the Lankan authorities is delayed, sources said. The salvage process for the remaining boats has not been started yet by the Tamil Nadu’s fisheries department, the RTI report said.
Boat owners in Rameswaram said that two decades ago there used to be over 870 fishing boats in the town, but the number has shrunk to 520 at present with one-third of the boats going out of business. The situation is the same in all the major fishing clusters along the Tamil Nadu coast, they said.
‘Centre must hold talks with SL to retrieve boats’
“My boat was confiscated by the Sri Lankan Navy in 2022. Following a long court process, I was able to get a release order for my boat on March 2023. I had to spend nearly `3.2 lakh for travel and court costs, including 2 lakh SL rupees as rent for the port where the boat is being kept. Though a year has passed, I am still unable to obtain a salvage order for my boat from the central government. I’m staring at a huge debt burden, and currently engaged in daily-wage fishing work,” said 29-year-old Manikanda Prabhu, a former boat owner.
“In 2023, my boat was anchored in the first row of the Mylatti Port in SL and could have been easily brought back as only 48 boats were docked then, but over the course of one year, over 100 boats had accumulated at the port. Bringing my boat out now will take much more effort and I have to spend a lot more money. Given my loan commitments, I don’t know how I’m going to manage. Since I got a release order for my boat, I was not even able to get the compensation provided by the TN government. Being a wooden boat, several lakhs will have to be spent on its restoration even if I am able to bring it back,” he added.
A Edison of Ramanathapuram, a 51-year-old boat owner, said, “I have lost four boats in the past 20 years. Since I had a strong will not to give up on our tradition, I arranged for loans and took advances from traders to purchase a new boat each time to continue fishing. A boat coasts `30-`40 lakh, and before I can pay off the loan, the boat gets caught, leaving me in financial ruin. Now, left with just one boat, I am struggling to make ends meet.”
P Jesuraja, president of the All Mechanised Boat Fishermen Association, said, “A mechanised boat costs between `10 lakh and `1 crore depending on its size. Though the state government provides `6 lakh compensation for boat owners, the amount is enough only to pay off a margin of boat owners’ debt.”
The centre should host talks between the SL government and fisher representatives of both countries to arrive at a permanent solution and retrieve all the Indian boats held in Sri Lanka, he said.
Around 21 boats stuck in SL even after release
Though 193 boats were released by Sri Lanka, about 21 of them are still stuck there even after release as the legal and physical steps involved in bringing them back to India is time-consuming and costly