Mullaitivu fishing communities on Thursday (25 May) raised concerns over poaching by foreign fishermen in their waters as well as illegal fishing practices of a handful of local fishermen to the authorities, Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in a statement said.
The occasion was when the SLN held a meeting at the SLN base SLNS Gotabaya in Mullaitivu, to make the fishing communities in Mullaitivu aware of prevailing issues in the industry, it said. The meeting was chaired by Commander Eastern Naval Area and Commandant Volunteer Naval Force, Rear Admiral Dammika Kumara. Twenty-eight (28) presidents of various fishermen’s cooperative societies in the District participated in the meeting together with representatives from the Sri Lanka Coast Guard (SLCG), Police and the Fisheries Department, SLN further said.
SLN in this connection provided a ‘clarification’ to the fishing communities regarding the collaborative efforts undertaken by the SLN, SLCG and the Department to combat those illegal fishing practices.