A day after the Sri Lankan Navy arrested nine country boat fishermen along with their two country boats on the charge of trespassing into their water, boat owners, accompanied by fishermen from Nambuthalai hamlet met the Collector here on Wednesday.
Led by the village leader Arumugam, they urged Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao to secure the release of fishermen and boats.
They were fishing in the ‘traditional fishing area’ well within the Indian water when the Lankan Navy arrested them.
The country boat fishermen, using the marine friendly ‘vazhi valai’ had been fishing in the area for several years and it was high time the State and Central governments protected their livelihood, they said.
The Lankan Navy, which had been stating that they arrested mechanised boat fishermen for using ‘destructive’ trawling fishing method, has started arresting harmless country boat fishermen, they said and urged the authorities to take up the matter with the Lankan authorities and put an end to the harassment.
In his petition, a boat owner K Ramakrishnan said five fishermen had set out for fishing from Embavayal in Pudukottai district on Monday when the Lankan Navy arrested them, the next day.
In its website, the Lankan Navy said that the fishermen were fishing in north-west of Delft island. They were handed over to Fisheries department officials for onward action, it said.