The Sri Lankan Navy damaged the nets, GPS and other equipment of Indian fishermen near Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island administered by the island nation, earlier on Friday. This comes after at least 11 Indian fishermen along with their trawlers were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy last week. An International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) separates five Indian (262,562 fishermen) and three Sri Lankan districts (119,000 fishermen). Fishing is the economic mainstay of northern Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan fishermen has been demanding their Indian counterparts to stop bottom-trawling that they content has been damaging the marine ecosystem. Since 2014 Sri Lanka Navy has seized more than 100 fishing trawlers; while they have released the Indian fishermen, they refuse to release the trawlers.

Source: dna November 25, 2016 07:45 UTC