20 fishermen held by SL Navy

According to E Kathavarayan, Regional Deputy Director of Fisheries, Ramanathapuram, these fishermen from Rameshwaram boarded a mechanised boat ventured into sea on Saturday.

Besides, another eight fishermen from Rameswaram, aboard were found missing at sea as they did not return to shore. Currently, efforts have been launched to trace those missing fishermen.

Based on assessment, potential fish catch per boat has been declining and hence the fisheries department did not let increase the number of fishing boats.

According to the Deputy Director, “Currently, the Ramanathapuram coastal district, which has a coastline length of 237 kilometre, the largest in TN, has a total of 1,524 mechanised boats.”

Further, he added that, among the total fishing crafts in Tamil Nadu, Ramanathapuram constituted 22 per cent of the boats with 180 coastal hamlets across the district. “Due to over exploitation, fish has declined and the fishermen had not alternative to venture into deep sea without being aware of crossing border to earn their livelihoods, but they get caught unfortunately,” he added.

Similarly, from Pudukkottai, around 500 fishermen in as many as 138 mechanised boats from Jagathapattinam boat jetty ventured for fishing on Thursday. At 5 am, while the fishermen were engaged in fishing, a Sri Lankan navy apprehended all the nine fishermen and seized their two boats on charges of crossing the IMBL.

Later, they were taken to the naval base SLNS ‘Elara’ on Tuesday morning. They were produced for a medical test before they were handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries in Jaffna for onward legal action.