Madurai

The incident was reported at around 4 am, though the Fisheries department was aware of it only at 9 am, sources said.

The fishermen were identified as Joseph Paulraj (37), Benito (40), Nagaraj (45), Innasi (22), Subramani (35), Muniyasamy (48) and Sathiyaseelan (25), who had ventured into the sea on Saturday on a mechanised boat bearing registration, IND TN-10 MM 654, owned by Duraisingam of Rameswaram. After being interrogated, they were detained in Talaimannar Naval camp, sources said. N Devadoss, president of Rameswaram Fishermen Association, said that the boat which carried the seven fishermen was scheduled to return to shore on Saturday morning. However, after developing a snag in the engine, the boat drifted close to the IMBL due to the wind, he claimed.

In all, 536 mechanised boats ventured into sea on Saturday, Devadoss added.

According to NJ Bose, president of Rameswaram Port Mechanised Boat Fishermen Association, it was a common practise among the fishermen to engage in fishing along the maritime border between the two nations as it has become a key fishing ground. Moreover, since most of the fleet had been equipped with high horse power capacity of 193 HP, boats were often found steering at high speed to reach the fishing ground, which is just about nine to twelve nautical miles off Rameswaramcoast, he said.

Though the government had launched diversified fishing scheme in a bid to end cross border fishing, it was too expensive for most of the fishermen from these coasts. As a long liner boat costs Rs 50 lakh or more, only about 30 fishermen from across Tamil Nadu have availed the scheme so far, he added.

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