Tamil Nadu fishermen have expressed the desire to hold urgent talks with Sri Lanka and reach a compromise in order to resolve the long standing fishing issue. Tamil Nadu Fishermen’s Association President S. Emiret told The Sunday Leader they are even willing to consider giving up bottom trawling if an alternative solution is provided to them. Bottom trawling by Indian fishermen is a serious concern for Sri Lanka and the matter has been raised in Parliament as well. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament last Thursday that bottom trawling by Indian fishermen is having an impact on the livelihood of fishermen in the North and East. However Emiret noted that even some Sri Lankan fishermen engage in bottom trawling so it is unfair to only blame Indians. Also don’t forget even Sri Lankan fishermen poach in Indian waters. So this is not just something to point fingers at us. We must discuss are resolve this issue, he said. He said Tamil Nadu fishermen are prepared to sit down with their Sri Lankan counterparts to map out a time based solution top end the crisis. We have had talks before with Sri Lankan fishermen but most often it is the businessmen who attend the talks and not the fishermen themselves. Some of these businessmen have their own agendas so the talks never go forward, Emiret said.Emiret said that recently his association met Indian External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and urged her to take efforts to resolve the issue. However he said Tamil Nadu fishermen feel only direct talks with their counterparts will result in a solution acceptable to both sides. We need to have three meals a day. The fishing industry feeds us as this is our job. We will look at alternative means if we really must give up bottom trawling to resolve this issue, he said.Emiret also asserted that Tamil Nadu fishermen have no qualms with fishermen in the North and East and want to prevent the issue from hurting the relationship between both countries. Meanwhile, the government on Thursday said it will not release boats seized from Indian fishermen who were arrested for poaching in Sri Lankan waters. Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa has been demanding that the boats and the fishermen be set free. However Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said boats will not be returned but the fishermen will likely be released. He made this announcement in Parliament when the opposition questioned him about reports that Sri Lanka may allow Indian fishermen to fish in Sri Lankan waters. We will not allow Indian fishermen to catch fish in Sri Lankan waters as they wish, he asserted.The Prime Minister said that talks on seeking a solution to the Indo-Lanka fishing issue has been held between the governments of Sri Lanka and India. He said several options are now being looked at to resolve the issue and he hopes a final solution to the issue will be reached by the end of this year. This issue cannot continue to drag, the Prime Minister added. Just last week the Sri Lankan navy arrested several Indian fishermen who were poaching in Sri Lankan waters. Navy spokesman Akram Alavi told The Sunday Leader the navy assisted the coast guard to arrest 16 Indian fishermen at two separate locations on Wednesday night. He said that the fishermen were arrested south of Delft Islands and off Mannar. The navy spokesman said that three boats used by the Indians were also seized. The fishermen and boats were handed over to the Jaffna Fisheries Inspectorate and the Mannar Assistant Directorate of Fisheries once being brought ashore. Akram Alavi said the arrest on Wednesday follows the arrest of 17 Indian fishermen two days earlier. The arrests prompted Jayalalithaa to write another letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to direct the External Affairs minister to secure the immediate release of 57 Fishermen and 98 fishing boats in Sri Lankan custody, including the 23 fishermen and their three fishing boats apprehended on July 4 and 5. I am constrained to write to you yet again to bring to your notice two more incidents of apprehension of innocent Indian fishermen belonging to the state by the Sri Lankan Navy. It is reported that six fishermen in their traditional fishing boat who set sail from Pamban fishing base in Ramanathapuram District have been apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on Monday and taken to Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka. In yet another incident, two boats from Nagapattinam District with 17 fishermen were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday and have been taken to Kankesanthurai, Sri Lanka, she said in a letter to Modi, according to the Deccan Chronicle. Pointing to the ceding away of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka by the Indian government in 1976 and the case filed by her challenging it, she said that the state government has taken a stand that the International Maritime Boundary line (IMBL) with Sri Lanka cannot be treated as settled as the matter is sub judice. I reiterate that only the retrieval of Katchatheevu will ensure the restoration of the peaceful pursuit of their traditional livelihood by our fishermen in the Palk Bay, she noted. The Sri Lankan government has however asserted on several occasions that Katchatheevu is not open for discussion as it now belongs to Sri Lanka. Requesting the Centre to impress upon the Sri Lankan government to immediately release the 95 fishing boats of the state fishermen already in their custody, Jayalalithaa said, I once again seek your urgent directions to the Ministry of External Affairs to initiate earnest efforts to find a permanent and pragmatic solution to this livelihood issue of our fishermen. When asked about the comments being made by politicians in Sri Lanka and India on the issue, Emiret said politicians look to take advantage of the issue and more often than not prevent the issue from reaching an end. He said both governments need to understand that the issue affects the lives of ordinary people and so no one should play politics with the fishing dispute.