Stone pelting in sea, TN fishermen attack K’taka counterparts

BENGALURU: The fishermen from Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka have lodged a police complaint against Tamil Nadu fishermen in connection with an incident of stone pelting which left eight of them injured.

The local fishermen had alleged that the incident took place when the fishermen's boats had gone to the sea near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu for fishing on February 8. The boats from Karnataka were surrounded by Tamil Nadu fishermen there and were attacked.

The Karnataka fishermen had taken videos of the incident and submitted them to the police. They had met the fisheries department Joint Director Harish Kumar and submitted a memorandum in this regard seeking protection.

Harish Kumar stated that he had received information on the Tamil Nadu fishermen having attacked Karnataka fishermen by pelting stones at them.

"If at all there was a violation from Karnataka fishermen by carrying out fishing beyond limits, they could have handed over their counterparts to the concerned authorities. It has to be verified whether the fishing boats crossed their boundaries.

The permission has been given to the fishermen to take up deep fishing from 12 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles," he explained.

The Fishermen Union had conducted a meeting at Mangaluru in connection with the attack. Since it is an inter-state issue, the matter has been brought to the notice of the Fisheries Directorate. The complaint in this regard has been registered at Pandeshwar police station in Mangaluru.