Commander of the Navy meets the Fishing Community of North of Colombo

Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe met the Palliyawatte fishing community at the Palliyawatte Church premises today (05th March 2010).Commandr Western Naval Area Rear Admiral MTDJ Dharmasiriwardene, former Member of Parliament Mr. Neel Rupasinghe, member of Wattala Pradeshiya Saba Mr Nishantha De Silva  and several senior officers of the Western Naval Command too participated in the discussions that followed.

Addressing the fishing community, Commander of the Navy explained in detail the facilitation extended to the fishing communities with the lifting of fishing restrictions which had been in place due to the security situation that prevailed in the country. He informed them of the further concessions now granted to them by the reduction of the restricted zone around the Colombo Harbour. The 66-square-nautical-mile demarcation of the restricted zone, which had been in place through a Gazette Notification, has now been reduced up to 08 square nautical miles for their benefit, the Navy Commander informed.

A series of discussions have been held by the Commander of the Navy with the fishing communities that are located along the coastal areas around the country with the view to raise awareness of the concessions granted to them with the lifting of fishing restrictions. He has looked into their professional welfare as well as the safety measures implemented at sea for them to engage in their traditional livelihoods with greater freedom. He has given directives to Naval authorities concerned to assist the local fishing communities enabling them to reap the full benefits of the fish harvests of the island-nation.