Seven Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for fishing in their territorial waters today, an Indian Fisheries official said.

The fishermen from Mandapam near Rameswaram were fishing at Neduntheevu, close to the island nation's coast and taken to Kangesanthurai port there, said Gopinath, Assistant Director of Fisheries.

Two boats used by them were also impounded by the naval men, he added.

On July 9, three fishermen from Jagadapattinam in Pudukottai District were detained off Karainagar in North Sri Lanka for allegedly fishing in Lankan waters. This is the third instance of an arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan Navy this month.

The Tamil Nadu government has maintained that the retrieval of Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in the 1970s, was the "only solution" to the vexed fishermen's issue.

(NDTV)