Fisher's strike enters 6th day in Rameswaram; associations press for State, Centre's intervention

MADURAI: Suspension of fishing operations and strike by anglers in Rameswaram demanding the release of 38 fishermen and 87 boats from Sri Lankan custody has entered into the sixth day.

Secretary of All Mechanized Boats Fishermen Association, Rameswaram, VP Sesuraja participated in the agitation at Thangachimadam on Saturday and sought the intervention of state and union governments to aid the release of 38 Tamil Nadu fishermen languishing in Lankan prisons.

The fleet from Tamil Nadu was seized and detained by the Sri Lankan Navy in 2024 on the grounds of cross-border fishing.

The arrested fishermen were sentenced to six months to two years of jail term and further slapped with heavy fines of up to Rs 2 crore. Sesuraj earnestly requested the governments to cover their expenses and bring them home, citing the families of jailed fishermen unable to afford the hefty fine.

To safeguard the livelihoods of fishermen and boat owners, he requested the government to provide a compensation of Rs 25 lakh per boat seized and detained in Sri Lanka. When TN boats were detained in Lankan custody in 2003 and 2004, the state government in 2011 extended a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for a seized boat, he recalled.

S Emarit, deputy secretary of the association, said it was frustrating and unfair that the TN fishermen were being arrested by the SL Navy almost every week, and families relying on them are in deep distress as they have no alternate livelihood to turn to. On Friday, the agitating fisher folks were on hunger strike and Sunday, the fisher folks would cook gruel to register their protest, he said.