Sri Lanka

During nineteen years, fishermen have found very difficult to access the sea but now fishing could become an important occupation and the Government is trying to revive the promise the industry showed at one time. .

Special attention is needed near the Northeast of the island. Before the war, this zone shared a third of the fish production in the country, now the percentage has gone down to a fifth.

This part of the Island could play a vital role in achieving the Government's goal of increasing fish production in the country. Sri Lanka needs to import fish to satisfy the population demand. Statistics show that production in Sri Lanka reaches 200,000 tons per year meanwhile demand is 270,000. Government's plans include increasing both production and consumption of seafood.

Predictions

If Governments predictions are achieved, annual consumption per capita should increase from the currently 17 kilos to 30 kilos and the production should be increased to 500,000 tons per year.

These targets can be achieved with incentives to the Northern fishermen, providing them with fishing nets, boats, ice processing plants and transport.

Besides, the Government have already announced the establishment of an ice plant and 10 fishery villages in the north and they also plan to build fishing boat landing sites and upgrade fish storage facilities in the area.

The Fisheries and Ocean Resources Ministry also intends to carry out a survey to explore offshore oceanic resources in the sea around the north with a view to commercial exploitation.

During this year the Government has announced several initiatives address to boost fishery production in Sri Lanka in an attempt to reduce the country's reliance on imports and possibly even tap into lucrative export markets.

In March, Authorities destined US$ 20 million to the fishery sector out of US$ 200 million loaned from the Asian Development Bank

The Minister of Fisheries, Mahinda Wijesekera has said that in the next few years fifteen thousand employments could be generated in the fishing sector thanks to the combination of loans, investment and government support.

Removal of taxes

Another measure announced by the Government this year was to remove taxes and surcharges on dry and canned fish. The tax, between 10-20 %, had been levied on these two items in the 2001 budget to safeguard the local fishermen.

But Fisheries Minister said that since dry fish is not produced locally on a large scale the authorities decided to remove the tax until is locally produced.

This means a lifted in the taxes until 31 of December when the country is expected to be producing canned and dry fish, according to the Minister Mahinda Wijesekara.

However, plans to establish a canning plant in joint venture with the Russian Government have been postponed while feasibility studies are carried out since the cost incurred for a can of fish is high.

More joint ventures are planning with other countries as Italy and China on a Government-private sector partnership to develop the fisheries industry with export in mind.

According to Mahinda Wijesekara, exports have to be developed through the private sector with the government acting as a facilitator that provide the basic equipment such as boats and nets.

Sustainable fisheries

A main problem that Sri Lanka has to face at the moment is the lack of craft as deep sea trawlers and sophisticated equipment such as fish finders and fish detectors.

The country also needs cold rooms to meet the production facilities and demands of foreign buyers. This incapacitate Sri Lanka from establish a base for fishing that suit international parameters.

To solve this problem, the Government has a market driven approach for the transfer of technology. This means foreign collaboration bringing funds and equipment to the country meanwhile local fishermen are able to pay back from their sales.

Another initiative that the Government is considering to improve its international position and boosting earnings refers to an eco-friendly and sustainable approach to the fisheries.

The idea is to have added value through processing conforming to food safety. In addition, a programme sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the National Aquatic Research Agency of Sri Lanka (NARA) is currently working to educate fishing communities about the problems of over-explotation and the necessity of sustainable fisheries.

Sri Lanka has been prone to overfishing as more than onethird of the population lives in coastal areas and on average 65% of the national animal protein comes from marine resources.

Illegal Fishing

Illegal fishing in Sri Lanka's territorial waters has stop the country from earning Rs 2 billion income annually and destroy every year 250 acres of sea belt.

To tackle this problem, the Fisheries Ministry has set up a special unit equipped with new technology to locate via satellite any unauthorised foreign vessel. This system will also help to make fishing safer as locate fishermen in case of emergency.

Regulations will be passed very soon to make compulsory for all deep sea vessel to have installed navigation equipment.

In this process of modernisation, the Government has set up a National Institute of Fisheries Training Unit.

For very long, fishermen have been using traditional methods for fishing, now with the introduction of new larger vessels , fishermen need to be able to use new equipment and read navigation charts.

Ports

Currently there are 11 fishing ports in Sri Lanka. Some of these, which are situated in the North and East of the country have not been operative for many years due to the war and those in use need to be developed. Under the Asian Development Bank, harbours in Hikkaduwa, Beruwela, Paranawella and Mirissa will be upgraded reaching international standards and according the necessity of each one.

This will also help to attract more foreign vessels to use Sri Lanka's port facilities, objective that the Government has already in mind.

Regarding aquaculture, the Government has launched a ten year development project focusing in fresh water fisheries. The ten year plan will include a five year short term component and a ten year long term that will gain the contribution of the fishing community and all other relevant parties for the fishery development activities while paying special attention to harvesting, processing, marketing and breeding