A diesel and wind-powered boat for cost-effective fishing

Shirajiv Sirimane

NEW PROJECT: For the first time a duel powered boat utilising diesel and wind power will be introduced for the fishing industry. This novel boat is being manufactured jointly by the Cey-Nor Foundation and the Belgium based organisation ‘Building a Future Foundation’ (BAFF).

According to Chairman Cey-Nor, Rohan Jayasinghe, President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his progress review

 meetings had requested the Ministry to develop a cheaper way of fishing. The boat would be launched in the market in two months.

“This was the main reason for us to seek ways and means to develop this boat which would bring down the cost of catching fish by almost 40 percent,” he said.

Out of the total fish production over 40 percent is not suitable for export as they get spoilt on the way. One reason for this is the age-old storing methods and the longer period the fishermen sail in the sea. “This new boat uses a special method to store fish where fish would not be stacked on one on top of the other,” he said. The higher storage capacity too is another advantage.

He said that there is great demand for ‘A’ quality ‘sashimi’ fish from Japan. However Sri Lanka, is not in a position to meet this demand despite ‘Sashimi’ fish being available in Sri Lankan waters. “The reason for this is that the fish caught in deep sea, when brought to the shore, after about three four days is not of ‘A’ grade quality,” he said.

With the introduction of this boat, fish catch would be of ‘A’ quality and it would lead to increased fish exports to Japan and bringing additional revenue. Jayasinghe said another advantage this boat would have is the higher speed it has due to its light weight which is double the present day vessels. Since the boat has a sail it can switch off the engine when fishing in deep waters thus saving fuel.

The Fisheries Minister Felix Perera too is very keen that this boat should be done in mass production as it would help the industry. According to Director, BAFF and Honorary Consul Belgium, Pierre Pringiers they decided to tie up with Cey-Nor to launch this boat since Cey-Nor is well established and Government owned.

Two Australian ship builders would be in charge of building the boats and subsequently the technology would be given to Cey-Nor for them to build and market them. He said that soon after the tsunami they wanted to do something for Sri Lanka and they thought helping the fishing industry would bring revenue for the masses.