Mangaluru: Indian Coast guard and Coastal Police arrested 22 Tamil Nadu fishermen on the coasts of Karnataka and seized two boats on June 8.
Seized boat
The boat was spotted 10 nautical miles away from the Karnataka coastal border. The Indian Coast guard caught the boat along with the fishermen and the fish they had fished. Then they were handed over to the coastal police for further investigation.
As the fishing ban is already in place in Karnataka from June 1, the fishermen and their boats were handed over to the fisheries department, which has lodged a case under Karnataka Marine Fisheries regulation Act 1986.
The arrested fishermen had reportedly started their journey to Karnataka from Kochi, Kerala. As the diesel of the boats got exhausted so the boat was drifted towards the coasts of Karnataka.
Sources in the Fisheries Department told Newskarnataka.com that the GPS readings have been noted down which shows that both the boats were inside the Karnataka Coastal border.
“Approximately 400 kgs of fish worth Rs 1.19 lakh have been auctioned and a penalty of Rs 3.5 lakh fine has been imposed on both the boats- that is Rs 1 lakh for smaller one and Rs 2.5 lakh for the bigger one.