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Government committed to harnessing ocean resources: FM

by Florence Wickramage

The new Sri Lankan Government is unreservedly committed to harnessing ocean resources and integrating the maritime domain and marine sector in national development strategies, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tyronne Fernando at the inauguration of the International Symposium and Workshop on Sediment Fans of the Indian Ocean and Implications for Marine Policy in the 21st Century, at the BMICH in Colombo yesterday.

The Symposium was hosted by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and the National Aquatic Resources Agency (NARA) of Sri Lanka with the support of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Cooperation (IOMAC) Secretariat.

The Government's deep commitment has been further emphasised, underlined and reflected in the re-designation of the Ministry of Fisheries last week as the Ministry of "Fisheries and Ocean Resources", the Foreign Minister observed.

Tyronne Fernando further stated that he hopes to take an initiative with his colleagues in Government with the guidance of the Prime Minister to develop required initiatives to review and strengthen the country's national ocean policies, strategies and institutional framework and for capacity-building and management in the required fields. Sri Lanka's new commitment to ocean resources will be spelt out in new detailed national policies and strategies.

Sri Lanka's offshore area is well over half a million square miles in extent and represents an area over twenty three times the land area. Offshore management is a function which calls for combined efforts. The primary challenge today is to assess the offshore territories of Indian Ocean countries for oil and gas beyond the continental shelf.

Stating that Sri Lanka won recognition for a special method of delimitation of her continental margin in an unique Statement of Understanding subscribed to unanimously by all nations at the Law of the Sea Conference in 1978, the Minister revealed that the Government hopes to establish an inter-Ministerial Committee under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including the concerned national marine agencies such as NARA, the National Hydrographic Office (NHO) at NARA, and the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau and other national organizations. The cooperation of India was essential in this effort, Mr. Fernando said.

Commenting on the contributions made by IOMAC the Foreign Minister said "today more than fifteen years later, the foresight with which IOMAC was created, and its underlying integrated ocean management concept remains valid and as vibrant as it first was when conceived in the aftermath of the unique Law of the Sea Conference and its New Ocean Regime in the early 1980s". The practical initiates by IOMAC will help to strengthen its role and relevance in the region as the custodian of the Indian Ocean through collective management, he observed.

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