Indian trawlers damage Jaffna fishermen's gear

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 January 2003, 17:28 GMT]
Incidents of Indian fishing trawlers entering Sri Lankan water in northern sea and damaging fishing gear belongs to Jaffna fishermen are once again on the increase, said Jaffna Fisheries Co-operative Sources said Monday.

Indian trawlers which entered northern waters Monday had damaged eight hundred thousand rupees worth of fishing gear belongs to Jaffna Tamil fishermen in Vadamarachchi north sea in one day alone, affected fishermen Monday complained to the Valvettithurai Sea Tigers of the LTTE and the Vadamarachchi Fisheries Co-operative Societies.

Hence the fishermen of Vadamarachchi north are reluctant to go to sea for fishing.

Few weeks back fishermen of the Vadamarachchi east area arrested several Indian trawlers when they entered Vadamarachchi East Sea for fishing.

In Vadamarachchi north, fishermen complain that the Sri Lankan security forces are also assisting the Indian trawlers to enter Sri Lankan waters for fishing, fisheries sources said.