32 Tamil Nadu fisherman are detained by the Sri Lankan Navy for suspected IMBL violations

In two distinct operations in the Neduntheevu and Mannar regions, the Sri Lankan Navy detained thirty-two fishermen from Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, on suspicion of violating the International Marine Letter (IMBL). It is also reported that the authorities had taken five of the fishermen’s boats.

 

Since March, the Sri Lankan Navy has apprehended a significant number of fishermen: around 58 individuals and six boats have been taken into custody.

On March 10 and 15, 37 crew members from Pudukkottai and Nagapattinam were taken into custody, and on March 17, another 21 fisherman from Rameswaram were taken into custody.

Every fisherman is detained for two weeks by the authorities.

Consequently, the Sri Lankan Navy drove away a group of Indian boats that were supposedly near the IMBL on Wednesday, out of the 480 mechanized boats that launched for the season from the fishing harbor in Rameswaram.

Early on Thursday morning, the SL Navy captured 32 fisherman and seized their five boats in separate operations between the Mannar and Neduntheevu regions.

All boats, according to sources, are property of the Rameswaram region. The boats and the captured fishermen were transported to Sri Lanka and given to the fisheries authorities so that further legal actions could be conducted.

Speaking, Jesuraj, the head of the Rameswaram fisherman Association, denounced the spate of apprehensions of Tamil fisherman and said that around 21 and 32 fishermen had been apprehended on Thursdays previous. The fact that the SL Navy’s arrest powers are expanding daily is very annoying.

Furthermore, it is very condemnable that one of the boat owners who had previously traveled to Sri Lanka to appear before a court about his boat, which had been seized by the SL, was supposedly sentenced to one day in prison. It is unfortunate that the government does little to solve the problems, even though the fisherman were arrested when they were at large during election season. He indicated that the group would make an announcement about demonstrations after the meeting.