Sri Lankan fishermen launch flotilla protesting Indian poaching

Boats flying black flags and carrying opposition legislators demand that government block Indian trawlers.

Sri Lankan fishermen have launched a flotilla of boats to demand that the government do more to protect the island nation’s prawn-rich northern waters from poaching by Indian fishers.

Boats flying black flags and carrying opposition legislators travelled 100km (60 miles) from the northeastern fishing town of Mullaittivu to Sri Lanka’s northernmost tip, Point Pedro, on Sunday.

“We have come in boats to protest bottom trawling by Indian fishermen,” M A Sumanthiran, a legislator for the main Tamil opposition party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), told reporters in Point Pedro.