More mother vessels for deep-sea fishing

Anjana SAMARASINGHE

FISHING: The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will purchase two new mother vessels, investing Rs 32.6 million to facilitate deep-sea fishing in Sri Lanka.

The Ministry has entered into an agreement with Dovl Lanka for purchasing the two new vessels. The vessels will be manufactured in China. Secretary to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources G. Piyasena told the Daily News Sri Lanka has nearly 2800 multi-day boats for deep-sea fishing.

These fishing boats need to come back regularly to the shore for fuel, ice and to unload their fish harvest. These regular trips consume more fuel and reduce the quality of the fish.

Through the new mother vessels the Ministry expects to provide vital services such as fuel, ice and other fishing equipment for these multi day boats involved in deep-sea fishing.

This will enable multi-day boats to engage in deep-sea fishing without an interruption for long periods.

Piyasena said these mother vessels will collect fish harvest from the multi day boats and will bring them to the shore for the markets.

The Ministry expects to launch this programme next year. Mother vessels will be equipped with high capacity refrigerators to facilitate fish transportation.

Multi-day boats also could use these vessels to transport their crew members.

The Ministry will charge a reasonable fee from the multi-day boat owners for providing these services.

Multi-day boat owners could save large amounts of money they spend on fuel. Nearly 30 percent of the fish harvest brought to the shore is destroyed during transport. The new vessels could minimise the damage to the fish harvest, he said.