Sri Lankan Navy detains seven Rameswaram fishermen near Katchatheevu; leaders seek release

Seven fishermen from Rameswaram and Thangachimadam in Ramanathapuram district were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy in the early hours of Sunday (November 1, 2026), Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department officials said.

The fishermen were taken into custody around 1 a.m. while fishing in the waters between the Katchatheevu islet and Mannar North, the officials said. They were taken, along with their trawler, to a naval port in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan authorities have in the past described such detentions as enforcement action against unauthorised fishing in its waters.

The Fisheries Department had issued 398 tokens on Saturday (October 31, 2026), and the boats concerned were scheduled to return to the shore on Sunday evening. Seven of the men who had put out to sea did not return.

Officials identified them as Placius (41), Alagu Pandi (22), Antony Pitchai (33), Rabin (21), Nelson (58), Arulananda Xavier (65) and Sahaya Anand (34).

Fishermen's association leaders condemned the detention and urged the State and Union governments to secure their release at the earliest. "We will convene a meeting of all fishermen associations in the coastal district and decide the next course of action," a fishermen's leader said, adding that with Deepavali around the corner, the incident had come as a rude shock to the families of those detained.

The token system, administered by the Fisheries Department, regulates the number of trawlers permitted to put out from the coast each day. Associations have said that repeated detentions, and the cost of legal proceedings and fines, push fishing families into debt, and have long sought a permanent bilateral arrangement.

The detention is the latest in a long series of incidents involving fishermen from the Ramanathapuram coast. Katchatheevu, a small uninhabited islet, was ceded to Sri Lanka under a 1974 agreement between the two countries, and a 1976 exchange of letters ended Indian fishing rights in Sri Lankan waters. Fishermen from Rameswaram and nearby villages, however, say they have used the waters around the islet for generations, both for fishing and for the annual feast at the shrine of St. Antony on the islet.

Because the International Maritime Boundary Line is not demarcated in the waters around Katchatheevu, fishermen say they cannot always tell where Sri Lankan waters begin, and detentions have recurred for decades. Those detained are usually produced before a Sri Lankan court, which imposes a fine; they return home after the amount is paid and formalities are completed.

Successive rounds of talks between Indian and Sri Lankan officials have sought a lasting arrangement covering fishing rights, alternative livelihoods for fishermen and the prompt release of those detained, but a settlement has remained elusive. Political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly urged the Union government to press Colombo for the release of fishermen held in Sri Lanka and to take up the Katchatheevu question.