The Naval authorities are drawing up plans to counter the increasing threat posed by Indian poachers in the Palk Straits after a Naval patrol boat came under a hot water attack on the high seas earlier this week, a top official said yesterday.
The attack took place during the early hours of the morning close to Point Pedro when the naval personnel had attempted to board a poaching Indian fishing vessel.
“No one sustained any injuries in the attack but it has created a certain amount of anxiety among the navy personnel tasked with patrolling the Palk Straits to discourage poachers.
“However, irrespective of the attack, the Navy arrested at least a dozen Indian poachers along with two fishing vessels. This was followed by the arrest of another six poachers barely 48 hours after the incident,” the official said.
“Naval personnel on patrol crafts do not have orders to fire even warning shots at intruders and this has perhaps has emboldened the poachers.
The hot water attack is the first such incident to have taken place and therefore, some counter action will have to be launched at the very earliest within a diplomatic framework,” the official said.
Eight years ago two naval personnel were allegedly hacked to death by the poachers and their bodies were later dumped into the sea.
The Navy, from the beginning of this year, has rounded up 234 Indian fishermen along with 36 boats.
The Chief Minister of the South Indian State of Tamil Nadu, M. K. Stalin has called on Delhi to intervene with the Sri Lankan Government to obtain the release of the Indian fishermen in custody.
In the past, hundreds of Indian fishermen have been released from Sri Lankan jails following diplomatic maneuvers between the two countries.
An unknown number of Sri Lankan fishermen have also been detained by the Indian authorities after they had strayed into the territorial waters of that country.
Hundreds, if not thousands of Indian poachers are known to enter the country’s territorial waters on a regular basis where among other irregular methods of fishing they also resort to bottom trawling destroying the marine-eco life on the sea bed, Northern fisher representatives have repeatedly said.
The activities of the poachers have also dwarfed the livelihood of the local fishermen who sometimes have to return home with empty nets, they said.
