‘A good start’: Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen hold talks after nine years

In a major step forward, fishermen leaders from Rameswaram and their counterparts in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province held talks in the island nation on Thursday (March 26, 2025).

In a major step forward, fishermen leaders from Rameswaram and their counterparts in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province held talks in the island nation on Thursday (March 26, 2025).

Speaking to The Hindu from Sri Lanka over the phone, fishermen leader V.P. Jesu Raja said a five-member delegation from Rameswaram had arrived in Sri Lanka after they made a representation to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to arrange for a personal meeting with the jailed fishermen there.

About 50 fishermen from Tamil Nadu are in Sri Lankan prisons, and the fishermen leaders wanted to meet them and express their solidarity, he said. The leaders arrived on Wednesday (March 25, 2025) and met the jailed fishermen in Vavuniya prison on Thursday.

Later, the delegates held talks with their counterparts in Sri Lanka, which lasted over an hour. He said that during the meeting, they discussed the difficulties they face in their day-to-day lives.

The fishermen leaders from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka last met in 2016, at the initiative of the late leader and former Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.

While the Tamil Nadu delegates expressed concerns over the frequent arrests made by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel on charges of poaching, the Sri Lankan side said the use of banned fishing nets by the T.N. fishermen spoiled the ecosystem and damaged natural resources.

Sri Lankan fishermen leader Mahaboob Alam said that only after fishermen associations raised the issue of non-arrest of T.N. fishermen on charges of poaching did the Sri Lankan government implement the law, after which Navy personnel were deployed for surveillance along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).