TN Fishing Community on Indefinite Strike Over Arrest of 32 by Lanka

An indefinite strike by the fishing community refusing to operate 700 mechanized deep-sea trawlers began at Tamil Nadu's largest fish landing centre, Rameswaram, on Monday morning, leading to a daily revenue loss worth ₹1 crore and affecting the well-being of more than 10,000 families.

- KA Shaji

CHENNAI:

A day after 32 fishermen were arrested and their vessels were seized by the Sri Lankan Navy, large-scale protests continued across the state.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister MK Stalin contacted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, reiterating his earlier request to convene a Joint Working Group of both countries to find a permanent solution and to secure the release of all the arrested fishermen and their fishing boats. Since January this year, 119 fishermen and 16 boats have been apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy in eight separate incidents, Stalin recalled in his conversation with the Union Minister.

Terming the recurring incidents as an attack on India's sovereignty, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss asserted that the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen crossing the maritime boundary should be seen as a humanitarian and livelihood-related problem, as decided by the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on Fisheries at a meeting held on October 29 last year.

During the early hours of Sunday, the island country's Navy arrested the fishermen from Rameswaram and its surroundings. It seized the five trawlers they used on charges of poaching fish wealth and breaking the international maritime boundary along the Palk Straits.

Fishermen organizations that organized protests across the Tamil Nadu coast on Sunday and Monday desisted from work if the Union government did not find a lasting solution.

P Jesuraja, president of the All India Mechanized Boats Fishermen Association, who is based out of Rameswaram and owner of one among the five trawlers seized on Sunday, said that the increasing number of arrested fish workers was worrying, as 530 Indian fishermen were arrested last year, and 381 trawlers were seized.