Seven fishermen from Rameswaram and Thangachimadam in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram district were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy early on Sunday, November 1, after naval personnel intercepted their trawler around 1 a.m. while they were fishing between Katchatheevu islet and North Mannar, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department officials said.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

The fishermen were detained on allegations of poaching and of fishing across the maritime border, and were taken with their vessel to a Sri Lankan naval port. Association representatives said the men were being taken to the Mannar naval camp for questioning.

Source: ANI via Indian Economic Observer

According to the ANI report, the detained boat bears registration number IND TN 10 MM 984 and belongs to J Mervin of Anthonypuram in Thangachimadam. The seven men on board were identified as S Plasius, 41, the boat driver; A Melson, 56; S Alagu Pandi, 22; A Anthony Pichai, 33; J Rabin, 21; A Sakhaya Anand, 34; and R Arulanandu Xavier, 65, from fishing communities in Ramanathapuram district.

The Fisheries Department had issued 398 tokens on Saturday for fishing operations, and the boats that ventured out were scheduled to return on Sunday evening. Rameswaram Fishermen Association president N Devadas told ANI that fishermen had been kept ashore for four days by a cyclone warning before more than 400 boats from Rameswaram went out on Saturday.

Devadas alleged that boats seized by the Sri Lankan authorities are nationalised and later destroyed, claiming more than 300 boats have been destroyed in this way, and said the state government provides Rs 8 lakh as compensation. He urged the governments to intervene immediately so that fishermen who go to sea for their livelihood are not arrested and their boats are not confiscated. Fishermen's leaders said they would convene a meeting of all fishermen associations in the coastal district to decide the next course of action.

The detention is the latest in a series of such incidents. On October 3, nine Rameswaram fishermen were arrested and their mechanised boat seized; Chief Minister Vijay wrote to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on October 5 seeking the release of 20 fishermen then in Sri Lankan custody and 270 seized boats, and called for renewed engagement through the bilateral Joint Working Group on Fisheries. In July, nine fishermen who sailed from Rameswaram were arrested while fishing north of Mannar.