The 35 fishermen from Tamil Nadu who were rescued in three separate cases in the last two weeks by the Sri Lankan Navy, off the Jaffna coast were repatriated on Tuesday. Two boats of these fishermen which had been salvaged have also been sent back. An official from the Indian Consulate in Jaffna said that these fishermen were handed over to the Indian Coast guard at the International maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) today. The prevailing ‘adverse weather conditions’ in north and east of Sri Lanka had delayed the repatriation of these fishermen.

Meanwhile, the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries is scheduled to meet in Colombo in the second week of January to discuss the fishermen issue and work on the modalities for an acceptable solution to both the sides.