COLOMBO, Jun 19, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Sri Lankan government has announced the blanket lifting of the fishing ban in the island's north, government officials said Friday.
Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapakse announced the decision Friday at Karainagar in the northern Jaffna peninsula, government officials here said.
Accordingly the fishermen in Jaffna would be able to do fishing 24 hours of the day with effect from Saturday.
Throughout the military campaign against the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the military had enforced rigid restrictions for fishermen in the north due to rebel threat.
The LTTE had carried out many attacks against the Sri Lankan Navy in the northern waters by mingling with fishermen during the 30-year-old armed conflict.
As a safety precaution, fishing was only allowed during 5:00 a. m local time to 5:00 p.m local time (2330 to 1130 GMT).
Analysts say the government's decision was a direct fallout from the military's victory over the LTTE last month.
The northern fishing harvest would be allowed to be transported to the south of the island through the newly reopened A9 highway, Rajapakse had assured the Jaffna fishermen.
The Sri Lankan government announced on June 14 that the fishermen in the eastern coast would be allowed to fish during the whole day in the eastern sea except the Trincomalee harbor area.
In the Trincomalee harbor area where Sri Lanka's major naval base is located, fishermen are now allowed to fish from 4:)0 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time (2230 GMT to 1230 GMT). However, boats which are used in the harbour area have to obtain the approval of the Navy.
The LTTE's three-decade-old militancy was crushed by the Sri Lankan military last month with all the 15,000-sq-km territory being recaptured by the troops and almost all the LTTE fighters being killed or captured.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhalese dominated governments, the LTTE began to fight for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east, resulting in the killing of 100,000 people in Asia's longest civil war.
About 300,000 Tamil civilians displaced by the final battles between the troops and the LTTE are now being camped in different welfare villages in the northern Vavuniya and Jaffna districts, waiting to be resettled to their original villages.