Amidst ongoing tensions between a section of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh fishermen, the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department on Thursday said measures are being taken to retrieve the boats detained in the neighbouring State and to prevent further conflicts between the fishermen of both states.

A press release issued by the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department said around 200 fishing boats, operating out of the Chennai Fishing Harbour as their base, regularly engage in fishing activities along the Andhra Pradesh coast. Furthermore, as fishermen from the Union Territory of Puducherry also fish in the Andhra Pradesh sea, local fishermen developed concerns regarding depleting marine resources. Consequently, they began detaining Chennai fishing boats operating within the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters defined under the state government’s jurisdiction. Currently, seven fishing boats belonging to Chennai have been detained and stationed at the Juvvaladinne fishing harbour in Andhra Pradesh.

Against this backdrop, the government has expedited steps to convene a District Level Committee meeting comprising officials from both states to find an amicable solution to these issues. It further mentioned that several rounds of consultative meetings have already been held with the representatives of the Chennai Fishing Boat Owners’ Associations at the Chennai District Collector level, as well as under the leadership of the Minister for Fisheries and the Minister for Finance.

Fisheries Department officials were directly dispatched to Andhra Pradesh to demand the immediate release of the currently detained boats and to ensure that Tamil Nadu fishermen can continue fishing smoothly in Andhra waters as usual. Following this, a bilateral meeting between the two states was held in Nellore on July 11th, the statement said.

A formal request was made during this meeting to immediately release the Chennai fishing boats detained by Andhra Pradesh and to allow them to fish in Andhra coastal waters as they customarily do.