Sri Lankan Navy apprehends 10 Indian fishermen, seizes boat

Mangalore Today News Network

Chennai, Feb 07, 2017: The Sri Lankan personnel on Tuesday detained at least ten Indian fishermen along with a boat in front of Delft Island, according to ANI report.

The fishermen hail from Rameswaram and were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in their island’s nation waters.

Recently, as many as ten Tamil Nadu fishermen along with their boats were apprehended by Lankan navy personnel, thus taking the total number of those arrested to 20 in the past one week.

The Sri Lankan government has maintained that bottom trawling carried out illegally by Indian fishing boats in Sri Lankan waters has destroyed the aquatic resources of the country and created a dead sea bed.

Last month Sri Lanka urged India to end bottom trawling in order to resolve a long standing fishing dispute when India’s Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh met Sri Lanka’s Minister for Fisheries, Mahinda Amaraweera in Colombo.

Both sides exchanged views on possible mechanisms to help find a permanent solution to the fishermen issue.

Sri Lanka recently announced that poaching by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters has seen a 50 per cent drop following steps taken by the Navy and Coast Guard to arrest Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters.

Meanwhile, an investigation on fishermen’s detention is currently underway.