Fishing ban affects more families

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Over 200 families from Killali and Pulopalai, two Grama Seveka areas coming under the Palai Divisional Secretariat, which have traditionally relied on lagoon fishing to make a living, are severely affected by the Sri Lankan Army ban on fishing in the lagoon, said sources in Palai.

Fishermen who have been denied permission to ply their trade, have to rely on handouts which has rendered them virtually destitute supplicants.

There are 100 families in Killali and 108 families in Pulopalai thus affected.

Killaly was a thriving spot during the time the Liberation Tigers were in control of Jaffna.

It was the sole entry point to the peninsula. Many attempts by the SLA to close it down, culminated in Operation Yarl Devi in 1993.

The army still thinks that this area is a very strategically convenient access point for the Liberation Tigers on the mainland.