India, Feb. 24 -- The crew of 700 mechanised deep-sea trawlers began an indefinite strike at Tamil Nadu's largest fish landing centre in Rameswaram on Monday in protest against the Sri Lankan Navy's arrest of 32 fishermen and seizure of fishing vessels a day earlier.

Sri Lankan Navy arrested the fishermen from Rameswaram and its surroundings on Sunday and seized their five trawlers on charges of poaching and breaking the international maritime boundary along the Palk Straits.

Fishermen organisations held protests across the Tamil Nadu coast on Sunday and Monday. They threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the Union government did not find a lasting solution to the problem.

Chief minister M K Stalin spoke to external affairs minist...