Tamil Nadu fishermen have condemned Sri Lanka's new fishing law which bans bottom trawling as "draconian", and urged Delhi to put pressure on Sri Lanka to repeal the law.
“This is draconian and aimed at crushing the livelihood of the fishers once for all,” the leader of the mechanised boat fishermen association, P Sesu Raja, was quoted by The Hindu as saying.
“Indian fishermen enjoyed traditional fishing rights in the Palk Bay for several centuries and their rights could not be taken away in this fashion,” U. Arulanandham, president of the Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF) was also quoted by the paper as saying.
The new legislation comes amid ongoing arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly straying into Sri Lankan waters.
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