Sri Lankan fishermen reap benefits of war's end. The end of the war against the LTTE prompted the government to ease fishing restriction in Northern seas, breathing new life into the region's moribund fishing industry.

The fishing community of the North can now engage in fishing previously restricted coastal areas. They also can now involve in both day and night time fishing.

"Our whole family depends on fishing, at some times we didn’t have anything to eat. But now the situation is improving", said a fishermen.

Muthumala Gunadasa, 57-year-old fisherman, said the war had forced three of his brothers to migrate to the south, despite the fact that the fishing here is much more lucrative.

“But now those who left are returning home,” he said. “Everyone wants to fish here.”

Fishermen in the North glad to be back out on the water, reported The New York Times quoting Fishermen in the North.

It also said Trincomalee has one of the world’s deepest natural harbors, and its potential for fishing, shipping and tourism seems endless. It holds a bounty of fish, crab and prawns that could provide tens of millions of dollars in earnings. Whales spawn here and dolphins leap in the azure waters.

But the LTTE, one of the world’s most brutal terrorist group, had a small navy and used in suicide missions and to supply weapons to its fighters. Although the LTTE was chased from this region in 2006, the bay has been largely off limits to development because of security concerns.

Fishing is at the heart of the economic and cultural life of coastal Sri Lanka, and its return is being celebrated in the north and east.

“When people here cannot fish they feel as if they are not living,” said a top central government official, T. T. R. de Silva.