Demanding the Union and State governments to immediately accord permission for ‘ stay fishing,’ fishermen, along with their family members, resorted to a sit-in strike here on Saturday.
Police and fisheries officials arrived at the spot and pacified them and asked them to disperse. However, after an hour-long persuasion, the fishermen agreed to give up the stir after the officials promised to take up their grievance with the government through the district administration.
Speaking to reporters, Mechanised Boat Owners Welfare Association president Xavier Vaaz said that there were 250 fishermen in Thoothukudi. When the government had given permission for boatowners and fishermen in other coastal districts for ‘stay fishing,’ it had not been extended to fishermen in Thoothukudi.
