Indian fishermen to retrieve more boats from SL custody

A delegation of 29 Indian fishermen in Rameswaram left for Sri Lanka on Saturday to retrieve their boats captured by the Sri Lanka Navy, the Indian media reported.

Rameswaram Fishermen's Association leader, P.Jesuraj, said the Government should take necessary steps in order to get their boats released from the Sri Lankan navy and also provide compensation to fishermen for their losses.

Fishermen from both the countries often breach the un-demarcated International Maritime Boundary Line in search of catch, leading to arrest and confinement of their boats.

On August 17, a seven-member delegation from Tamil Nadu, led by the Additional Director of the Fisheries Department, G S Sameeran, and also comprising Deputy Director (Fisheries) P Isaac Jayakumar, Rameswaram Fishermen Association president P Sesuraja and members of the fishermen associations of Pudukottai and Nagapattinam, had left for Sri Lanka to inspect the condition of the boats.

Subsequently, a team comprising 53 fishermen, technicians and fisheries department officials went to the island nation on September 27 to complete the formalities and bring back the boats, Jayakumar said.

The fishermen towed seven boats with their vessels to bring them back to Rameswaram. However, the seawater gushed into one of the boats, forcing them to abandon it near the Kareinagar coast in Sri Lanka, Sesuraja said.

The remaining six boats were brought to the Rameswaram fishing jetty last evening, he added.