• Eight suspects handed over for legal action

Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has seized an Indian fishing boat and apprehended eight Indian fishermen while they were poaching in Sri Lankan waters, north of Mannar on Saturday (28).

According to the Navy, its North Central Naval Command deployed an Inshore Patrol Craft to drive away Indian fishing boats from island waters, north of Mannar after observing multiple vessels breach the international maritime boundary and enter Sri Lankan waters. “The compliant boarding made by Naval personnel resulted in the seizure of one Indian boat and apprehension of eight Indian fishermen who continued to engage in illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters,” the Navy said in a statement. The seized vessel and Indian fishermen had been brought to the Talpadu Pier in Mannar and had been handed over to the fisheries inspector of Mannar for onward legal proceedings.

Sri Lanka has been battling a long-standing cross border illegal fishing crisis, with thousands of Indian fishing vessels, of which many use the banned and highly destructive bottom trawling method, to plunder Sri Lankan fish stocks and ruin coastal ecosystems on a weekly basis. The practice, which happens at a scale where it would be impossible to go undetected, occurs despite India investing billions in coastal security infrastructure and deploying one of the world’s largest coast guard agencies – the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to patrol and enforce law in the Palk Strait.