A total of 181 Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) this year for Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) poaching in Sri Lankan waters. A total of 24 Indian fishing vessels have also been detained so far in 2025, according to a statement by the SLN.

The cross-border criminal issue is one of the island’s contemporary security challenges. The ongoing issue, which increased exponentially following the end of the internal conflict in 2009, has devastated the livelihoods of Sri Lankan fisher communities in the north of the island. 

The northern fishermen have been battling the colossal Indian trawler flotilla that illegally enter Sri Lankan waters and engage in the destructive practice of ‘bottom trawling’, stripping bear the vibrant and fertile fish breeding grounds of the Palk Strait, and the Northeastern coast of the island. For more than a decade, Sri Lanka has been slow to move on the matter, worried about ruffling feathers in New Delhi.