Japanese help to start sea cucumber breeding project in Mannar:
North’s fishing restrictions lifted
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa said in Jaffna that all restrictions imposed on fishing in Jaffna have been lifted from Saturday.
Fishermen are not required to obtain passes for fishing in the northern sea area.
The minister made this announcement when he met representatives of 61 fishermen’s associations in the Jaffna district at Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna on Saturday.
 Ministers Basil Rajapaksa, Rajitha Senaratne and Douglas Devananda being greeted on arrival at Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna |
Over 1,000 fishermen representing all these associations were present.
Minister Rajapaksa said that the government was mindful of the difficulties and challenges faced by the fishing community in the country.
“The fishing community in the country is lucky as they have a President in the country who held the portfolio of fishing in the past,” he said. “The President during his period took several measures to uplift the livelihood of the fishing community in other parts of the country. Unfortunately, the conflict stopped him from introducing the same facility for the benefit of northern fishermen,” Rajapaksa said.
“Now since the conflict is over, the President has directed the authorities to provide all facilities to the northern fishermen as in the case of southerners,” he said. The minister after hearing the needs of the fishing community of the area, promised to provide anchoring facilities at 11 locations needed by the people.
Work on two of the locations will commence immediately from today as the minister sanctioned funds for it. Work on all other anchoring locations will commence shortly once the estimates are provided.
Another difficulty faced by the Jaffna fishing community is the lack of transport facilities with refrigeration. Minister Rajapaksa as requested by Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senarathna promised to allocate funds to obtain vehicle facilities to transport fish to Colombo from Jaffna.
Referring to changing trends in the world with regard to maximizing the resources in the sea, the minister said that the government has made arrangements to maximize resources in the sea by growing sea cucumber, shrimps and other sea food.
“The government of Japan has committed assistance to start a project to breed sea cucumber in the Mannar area.
Minister Rajapaksa outlining the details of the government’s programme for the northern fishing community, said that while the government was doing its best to serve the northern people, certain political parties who are aware that they cannot come to power were trying to deceive the people by falsely pointing out errors and mistakes in the government’s projects.
No comments:
Post a Comment