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| Photo Credit: L. Balachandar
In a fresh incident, 10 fishermen from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu were arrested by Sri Lankan Navy personnel on charges of poaching in international waters late on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) night.
The Fisheries Department officials on Thursday (August 13) said that they had issued 297 tokens to mechanised trawlers on Wednesday morning from the Rameswaram jetty.
At around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, a boat belonging to Wellington of Rajan Nagar, Thangachimadam, was intercepted reportedly by the Sri Lankan Navy’s surveillance team at the Katchatheevu islet. After preliminary inquiry, the Navy personnel took the fishermen, including Janathan (45), Antony Pitchai (38), Prabhu (43), Don Bosco (55), Arockia devin (31), Veluchamy (51), Subbiah (52), Arockia Jeniston (25), and Stevin (30), into custody. The arrested fishermen hailed from Rameswaram, Pamban, Virudhunagar, and Thangachimadam.
A senior official in the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department said that the arrested fishermen were taken to Talaimannar Naval Port and are likely to be produced in a court during the day.
Meanwhile, fishermen in the coastal district were distressed by the news. One fisherman said, “Only five days ago, we had stayed away from fishing for a day following the arrest of nine fishermen after their trawler reportedly developed a technical snag near Neduntheevu islet…”
“The latest arrest shows that the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government were only mute spectators and don’t seem to be interested in finding a lasting solution. When we have been appealing repeatedly to help and intervene as it involved our livelihood, such a nonchalant attitude had caused hardships and mental agony among our families,” Jesu Raja, a fisherman leader, told The Hindu.
Published – August 13, 2026 07:32 am IST
