Thenmaradchi fishermen want freedom to fish

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 19:42 GMT]
Fisheries co-operative society representatives of Kovilakandy Thursday told the Sri Lanka Army officials at a conference held at Navatkuli Sakalavalli Vidiyalayam that they would launch an agitation campaign if the SLA refused to remove the barbed wire fence in the Kaithady-Navatkuli south sea in Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district, enabling them to do their fishing without any obstruction, civil group sources said.

The SLA has put a barbed wire fence in the sea from Ariyalai east up to Thanankilappu and has allowed the fishermen to fish within that barbed wire fence in an 8 square km area. The Kovilakandy fishermen wanted that fence removed immediately.

However the SLA officials who attended the conference wanted time to decide on the fishermen's request. The Army officials told the fishermen that they would be allowed to fish in the stipulated area from4 a.m. till 6 p.m., sources said.

Meanwhile, the SLA has allowed fishermen of nearby Pashaiyoor and Gurunagar areas to fish in the sea beyond the barbed wire fence, sources said.