2ND LEAD

Second ‘Valampuri’ conch shell caught in Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 November 2009, 19:46 GMT]
A fisherman from Kurunakar in Jaffna caught a Valampuri Conch (a rare conch shell with right hand opening and turn) Monday in Jaffna lagoon area where fishing had been banned for the last 13 years since Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupation of Jaffna peninsula. He sold the conch for nearly 3,3 million rupees to a trader in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. A shell of the same kind was caught in the same area by a group of nine fishermen last month, the sources added.

Though the SLA ban on fishing in these areas is still in force some fishermen engage in fishing to make a living, fisheries society sources said.