Seven Tamil Nadu fishermen held by Sri Lankan Navy

The fishermen from Mandapam were fishing at Neduntheevu, close to the island nation's coast and taken to Kangesanthurai port there, Assistant Director of Fisheries, Gopinath said.

Two boats used by them were also impounded by the navalmen, he added.

On July 9, three fishermen from Jagadapattinam in Pudukottai District were detained off Karainagar in northern Sri Lanka, for allegedly fishing in the Lankan waters.

This is the third instance of arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan Navy this month.

The Tamil Nadu government has maintained that the retrieval of Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in the 1970s, was the "only solution" to the vexed fishermen's issue.