Rameswaram fishermen launch indefinite strike to protest against attack by Sri Lankan Navy

Chennai: Fishermen belonging to the tiny island of Rameswaram on Monday began an indefinite strike to protest against the frequent incidents of fishermen being arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy and their boats being impounded for fishing in the Palk Strait. The latest provocation is the apprehension of 32 fishermen from Rameswaram by the Sri Lankan Navy on February 23 for allegedly entering its waters, taking the number of arrests to 119 and the number of boats seized to 16 since the beginning of 2025.

As many as 700 boats didn’t venture into the sea on Monday, affecting about 10,000 fishermen and resulting in a loss of at least Rs 1 crore a day. The fishermen want the Sri Lankan Navy to stop “harassing them” in the mid-seas and seizing their boats, which takes away their livelihood in a minute.

The protest by the fishermen's associations comes a day after Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressing concern over the growing incidents of arrests of Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu. Since January 1, 2025, there have been eight separate incidents in which 119 fishermen were arrested and 16 boats impounded by the Sri Lankan government.

N Devadoss, President of the Rameswaram Fishermen Association, said the fishermen had no option but to strike as the attacks against the fisherfolk continued unabated.

“We want the Sri Lankan Navy to allow us to fish peacefully in the Palk Bay. If they seize the boat, they take it to their country and auction it, which is unacceptable to us. If a fisherman loses his boat, he can never come out of the losses he incurs,” Devadoss told DH over the phone from Rameswaram.

Devadoss also said the Sri Lankan government should stop levying exorbitant fines to the tune of crores of rupees on the arrested Indian fishermen and demanded that they be treated properly when taken to Sri Lanka for appearing before courts.

The fishermen want the Union Government to convene the Joint Working Group (JWG) consisting of fishermen and officials from both countries to find a permanent solution to this long pending issue. Devadoss, a member of the JWG, said the meeting, once it is held, should deliberate on the “excesses” of the Sri Lankan Navy and impress upon the government in the island nation to take a considerate view of the concerns of the Indian fishermen.

The arrest of Indian fishermen from Pudukkottai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, and Ramanathapuram districts in Tamil Nadu and Karaikal in Puducherry, by the Sri Lankan Navy has been a recurring affair in the Palk Strait for the past few decades.

The fishermen cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and step into Sri Lankan waters as the fish catch is abundant on the other side. They often land in trouble as the island’s Navy personnel encircle them in mid-seas, especially when they cross Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island ceded by New Delhi to Colombo in 1974.

The fishermen’s Tamil counterparts in Sri Lanka’s northern region say the bottom trawlers used by Indian fishermen scrap the seabed, bringing ecological destruction.