TN fishing community on indefinite strike over arrest of 32 by Lanka

An indefinite strike by the fishing community refusing to operate 700 mechanised deep-sea trawlers began at Tamil Nadu’s largest fish landing centre, Rameswaram, on Monday morning leading to a daily revenue loss worth ₹1 crore and affecting the well-being of more than 10,000 families.

A day after 32 fishermen were arrested and their vessels were seized by the Sri Lankan Navy, the large-scale protests continued across the state.

Meanwhile, chief minister MK Stalin contacted external affairs minister S Jaishankar reiterating his earlier request to convene a Joint Working Group of both countries to find a permanent solution and to secure the release of all the arrested fishermen and their fishing boats. Since January this year, 119 fishermen and 16 boats have been apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy in eight separate incidents, Stalin recalled in his conversation with the Union minister.

Terming the recurring incidents as an attack on India’s sovereignty, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss asserted that the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen crossing the maritime boundary should be seen as a humanitarian and livelihood-related problem, as decided by the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on Fisheries at a meeting held on October 29 last year.

During the early hours of Sunday, the island country’s Navy arrested the fishermen from Rameswaram and its surroundings. It seized the five trawlers they used on charges of poaching fish wealth and breaking the international maritime boundary along the Palk Straits.

Fishermen organisations that organised protests across the Tamil Nadu coast on Sunday and Monday desisted from work if the Union government did not find a lasting solution.

P Jesuraja, president of the All India Mechanised Boats Fishermen Association, who is based out of Rameswaram and owner of one among the five trawlers seized on Sunday, said that the increasing number of arrested fish workers was worrying as 530 Indian fishermen were arrested last year, and 381 trawlers were seized.

He has also noted that during a meeting in Delhi last December, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed that the fishermen’s issue in the Palk Straits should be approached from a humanitarian perspective.

DMK Lok Sabha member Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said the party is standing solidly with fishing communities in the Ramanathapuram, Pudukottai, Nagapattinam, Thirunelveli, and Kanyakumari districts, who are now risking their lives to eke out a living under the constant threat from the Sri Lankan navy.

Fishermen’s coordinating committee leader R Sagayam said strategies would be worked out in two days to compel the Union government and find a lasting solution.

According to him, the fish workers are also apprehensive about Sri Lankan authorities’ announcement that they would auction off 67 fishing vessels, including five country boats and 62 mechanised boats, seized by the Navy in 2024.

“The decision made by the Sri Lankan government to sell our assets is both painful and unfair. At a time when fishermen from Tamil Nadu are pleading for safe and secure fishing activities along the Palk Straits, the silence from the Union government remains shocking. Our right to fish in the Palk Straits has existed since immemorial, and we will not compromise it,” Sagayam said. “At the least, the Centre can facilitate a meeting between our representatives and the fishermen of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province to alleviate their objections. The traditional rights of both sides must be respected along with the bilateral agreements on safe fishing,” Jesuraja said.

Last Sunday, the fishermen affiliated with the DMK organised a massive demonstration in Ramanathapuram, condemning the Union government for failing to take tangible steps to prevent the arrests. Kanimozhi, who inaugurated it, reminded the Union government that direct talks between a local fishermen delegation and those from the Northern Province of Sri Lanka would resolve the issue considerably.

“Our fishermen continue to fish only in the traditional waters, but they have no choice but to fish in the international waters as the fish catch is abundant there. Why arrest them and impound the boats? Once a fisherman loses his boat, his livelihood is gone. He can never return his vessel from Sri Lanka. India must force the neighbour to evolve common fishing, right?” Jesuraja added.

NJ Bose, another fishermen leader from Rameswaram, said the fishing fields for Tamil fishermen shrank to a mere 12 nautical miles from 52 nautical miles after the international maritime border line was demarcated following the Katchatheevu agreement, which was signed in 1974.

“We used country boats then, but the government asked us to graduate to trawlers. Decades later, Sri Lanka opposes trawlers, and we can fish peacefully in the Palk Strait only if the neighbouring country allows us to do so in its territory. There is no way to resolve the crisis other than diplomatic intervention,” Bose said.

K Navas Kani, a Lok Sabha member from Ramanathapuram, which houses Rameswaram, claimed that the Union government’s nonchalant attitude over the past decade has led to the arrest of over 3,500 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and the impounding of hundreds of their vessels by the Sri Lankan government.

Citing examples of rifts between fishermen in Norway and Russia and successful dialogues between Australian and Indonesian fishermen, Kanimozhi asked why the Centre did not hold similar discussions with the fishermen in Sri Lanka. She also pointed out the resolution of differences between fishermen in the US and Canada as another example of successful dialogue that could serve as a model for resolving current conflicts.

“On many occasions, Indian fishermen retreat at gunpoint even from the permitted fishing areas near the disputed Katchatheevu islet,” NJ Bose said. “The first and most important thing that India needs to do is take strong diplomatic action and demand, in no uncertain terms, that our fishermen be released immediately. Second, our fishermen should avoid using prohibited trawlers in Sri Lankan waters,” said AP Lipton, a retired principal scientist with the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute.