Gaza fishers grounded

Fishing fleet forced back to the shore. below an extract of the article written by By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer:

"Israel, which maintained control of Gaza's coast even after its pullout last year, sealed off the sea with naval gunboats after a soldier was captured in a June 25 militant raid on an army post.
The army says the coastal closure is crucial to stopping the militants from smuggling the soldier into nearby Egypt by boat.
It has also stranded about 3,000 Palestinian fisherman on shore for 10 days, costing the local economy $250,000 in losses, said Tarek Saker, director general of fisheries at the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry.
With about 43 percent of the Palestinian population living in poverty and unemployment at 23 percent, every fish caught counts. The fishing industry supports tens of thousands of workers, from the fishermen to those who make the nets and fix the boats, Saker said.
The industry became even more important to Gaza's economy earlier this year, when Israel and the West started an international boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which has left 165,000 civil servants without salaries since April.
Before Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out in 2000, fishing accounted for almost 7 percent of agricultural output, said Saker. But last year, Palestinian fishermen caught half as much as they did in 1999 — largely because of the Israeli restrictions.
"When the fishing season is at its peak, this is the people's food and they eat fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Saker said."