Tamil Nadu Fishermen Urge Centre To Convince Sri Lanka For Fishing Rights In Katchatheevu

Chennai: The recent incident of a Sri Lankan Navy patrol boat colliding with a Rameswaram fishermen's boat and arrest of seven fishermen for fishing across the border have shocked Tamil Nadu fishermen.

More than 3,000 fishermen went to sea in over 450 boats from Rameswaram fishing port on Saturday morning. While the fishing boat belonging to Maria Seeron was fishing near Katchatheevu, the Sri Lankan Navy, who were patrolling in the area, tried to seize his boat on the grounds that it was fishing across the border.

At that time, the Sri Lankan Navy patrol boat collided with the Tamil Nadu fishermen's boat causing the rear of the boat to be completely damaged. Subsequently, the seven fishermen on the boat, identified as Stalin, Muneeswaran, Viakulam, Columbus, Nagesh, Stephen, and Sarathkumar, miraculously survived and reached the Rameswaram fishing port this morning.

The fisheries department officials personally inspected the boat's damage. The Sri Lankan Navy chased away more than 10 motorboats that had gone out to fish, forcing them to return to shore with a loss of about Rs 50,000 to 70,000 per boat.

The fishermen have expressed their anguish that the repair work on the Maria Siron boat, which was damaged due to the collision, will cost lakhs of rupees, and said that this has severely affected their livelihood.

The fishermen tearfully stated that due to the continuous problems of the Sri Lankan Navy not only the workers but also the fishing industry in Rameswaram are in danger of being destroyed. In order to avoid this danger, the fishermen have demanded that the Central and state governments should talk to the Sri Lankan government and obtain fishing rights in the Katchatheevu area without any problems.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Navy has now arrested seven fishermen from Rameswaram again on charge of fishing across the border and their motorboat has also been confiscated.

These fishermen had gone to sea from Rameswaram yesterday for fishing in the northwestern waters of Kankesanthurai. The Sri Lankan Navy which arrived there, arrested them on charge of fishing across the border and took them to the Kankesanthurai naval camp.

After investigation, these fishermen will be kept at the Mayilatti fishing port and handed over to the Jaffna Fisheries Department officials, Sri Lankan Navy officials have said.

The arrested fishermen have been identified as B. Ruther (40), P. Edison (48), and M. Jegadeesh (42) of Thangachimadam; A. Shanmugam (56) and F. Dalvin Raj (42) of Rameswaram; M. Sakthivel (43) of Keerathurai in Madurai; and Anbalagan, whose native place is being verified.

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