A five-day ban has been imposed on fishing in the Negombo lagoon and the seas surrounding Colombo city.
Fishermen have been told a week ago that fishing is only limited from 6.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. but on Thursday (31) they have been told by the Navy to cease fishing with immediate effect from August 1 to 5.
Aruna Roshan, president of the All Ceylon Fishermen’s Trade Union (Gampaha branch) said that more than 2,500 families are totally dependent on the income they get from fishing in the lagoon and around 3,000 persons earn from fishing and related jobs in the lagoon. “The Government hasn’t decided to give relief to the poor fishermen. A family should get at least Rs. 1000 per day as compensation. Five days without fishing is a greater loss to them. Their boats are not allowed to take to the lagoon as the Navy have surrounded the lagoon to prevent them fishing” he said adding that the Navy have told the lagoon fisherman to go fishing in the seas but the boats these fishermen use are not strong enough to sail into the open sea. He said that fishermen who go to sea have also been told to avoid fishing in the areas near the city but to move towards more northern waters.“Only 10 percent of sea fishing has been done because the areas where the Navy have assigned us have a dearth of fish,” he said.
Navy spokesman K.D.P.Dassanayake said that during the SAARC summit period a number of VIP planes would be travelling over the Negombo lagoon and therefore it is important to declare this area as a high security zone for five days.
“We informed the lagoon fishermen that they could go fishing in the sea but we were compelled to inform them to keep away from the lagoon due to security reasons,” he said. | 
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