(File Photo)
Fishermen in Puttalam today filed a writ a petition seeking an interim order preventing the use and deployment of harmful nets (purse seine nets) in the seas off the Puttalam district.
The petitioners sought an order to quash the decision of the Director General-Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to issue permits for using purse seine fishing gears in Sri Lanka.
The eight fishermen in Puttalam District had filed this petition naming Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Mahinda Amaraweera and seven others as respondents.
The petitioners stated that trawling activities, large-scale fishers use various fishing gears that are harmful for the fishing industry of any country and benefits only a very few, while destroying livelihood of larger group of small-scale fishermen in the country. The petitioners said trawling and the extensive use of harmful nets nets, (identified as ‘Hamili Dal’, ‘Laila Dal’, ‘Surukku Dal’ in Sinhalese) and explosivs such as dynamite, destroy the aquatic environment and thereby the livelihood of nearly 2.5 million fishermen, including the petitioners.
This petition had been filed through counsel Priyalal Sirisena.
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