Eight fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan Navy; three attacked by 'pirates'

Chennai: Eight fishermen from Rameswaram island in Tamil Nadu were on Tuesday morning apprehended by Sri Lankan Navy in the Palk Strait for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and entering into its water, even as three fishers from Nagapattinam were attacked mid-sea and looted by “unknown people.”

The latest incident takes the number of fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy this year alone to 332 of which 116 fishermen are still in the neighbouring country.

As many as 45 boats, including the one confiscated from the eight fishermen on Tuesday, owned by fishermen from Tamil Nadu were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy since the start of 2024. In total, 184 boats are under Sri Lankan custody.

Sources said 430 mechanised boats with about 2,500 fishermen ventured into the sea for fishing from Rameswaram harbour on Monday. One boat, with eight members, was apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy near Neduntheevu (Deft Island) early Tuesday between Dhanuskodi and Talaimannar.

“The arrested fishermen have been taken to Mannar in northern Sri Lanka and produced before a local court. The boat has been confiscated,” a source told DH.

In yet another incident, three fishermen from Nagapattinam harbour were attacked mid-sea by “unknown persons who spoke Tamil” and their articles were stolen by the pirates. All three have been admitted to the government hospital in Nagapattinam with “grievous injuries”, fishermen associations said.

The ”attackers” who came as a group in three boats assaulted the fishermen and decamped with walkie-talkies, mobile phones, and other belongings.

“The pirates, after attacking the fishermen, decamped with everything that the fishers had with them. We don’t know what to say. Such incidents have become the order of the day. Tamil Nadu fishermen are scared to get into waters to fish due to such attacks,” Rajendra Nattar, President, Indian National Fishermen Union, told DH.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar seeking the release of the arrested fishermen. He also brought to Jaishankar’s attention that such incidents has caused immense distress to the families of the arrested fishermen and has further exacerbated the livelihood problems faced by Indian fishermen.

“Their livelihood depends on these waters, and such arrests not only affect the well-being of the fishermen but also jeopardise the well-being of their families back home,” Stalin said.

The arrest of Indian fishermen from Pudukkottai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, and Ramanathapuram districts by the Sri Lankan Navy has been a recurring affair in the Palk Strait for the past few decades. The boats seized by the Sri Lankan Navy are nationalised, snatching livelihood from Indian fishermen.

The fishermen cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and step into Sri Lankan waters as the fish catch is abundant on the other side, often landing in trouble as the island’s Navy personnel encircle them in mid-seas, especially when they cross Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island ceded by New Delhi to Colombo in 1974.

The fishermen’s Tamil counterparts in Sri Lanka’s northern region say the bottom trawlers used by Indian fishermen scrap the seabed, bringing ecological destruction.