Fisheries industry after tsunami

Harsha Udayakantha Peiris

Sri Lanka is an island having 65,510sqkm of land area. Its sea area within the EEZ is 517,000sqkm. The fishing fleet of the country is around 43,768 and the fishing population exceeds 171,470. There are 12 fishery harbours, 37 anchorages and 700 small landing centres around the country.

The recorded fish production in Sri Lanka in 2008 reached 319,120 metric tons while the per capita consumption reached 15kg.

Tsunami impact

The tsunami impact on 26th December 2004, caused enormous destruction to the fisheries industry of Sri Lanka. Projects launched to boost the industry, following the devastation mainly identified the areas such as minimum standards of fish handling and worked towards to reduce post-harvest losses in selected tsunami affected communities.

However it was also identified that no proper and sufficient attention have been paid on the quality and safety issues during the implementations.

The inception of RFLP

To address the wider issues raised in this regard in a broader scale, and also to resolve most of the difficulties faced and experienced by the fisher communities throughout the region, Regional Fisheries Livelihood Program (RFLP) for South and Southeast Asia was initiated and launched with the participation of six countries including Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Timore-Leste and Vietnam.

The RFLP regional project that was initiated on 01st September 2009 will operate for 4 years and is scheduled to be completed on 13th August 2013. RFLP is funded by the Kingdom of Spain that has extended a donor contribution of US$ 19,549,000 in this regard.

Government agencies responsible for fisheries development and management in partnership with other Government agencies and non-Government organizations and regional organizations and networks in each country act as the implementing agencies of the program.

Inception of RFLP

The inception of the Sri Lankan component of RFLP was launched at a Hotel in Wattala on 23rd and 24th of February 2010. RFLP in Sri Lanka is implemented by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (MFAR) in coordination with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations under a budget of US$ 2,422,477.

The Project is expected to strengthen the capacity among participating small - scale fishing communities and their supporting institutions for improved livelihoods and sustainable fisheries resources management. Among the expected outputs are co-management mechanisms for sustainable utilization of fishery resources, improved safety and reduced vulnerability for fisher communities, improved quality of fishery products and market chains, diversified income opportunities for fisher families, facilitated access to microfinance services for fishers, processors and vendors and regional sharing of knowledge in support of livelihood development and reduced vulnerability for fisher communities and sustainable fisheries resource management.

Current concerns

RFLP is launched and implemented mainly in two fishery districts in the Puttalam administrative district and a single fishery district in the Gampaha administrative district. Hence, Puttalam fishery district, Chilaw fishery district and the Negambo fishery district will be the focal areas.

Puttalam administrative district

Land area: 2882sqkm

Inland waters: 190sqkm

Population: 752000

Fish Production: 48120mt

Puttalam fishery district

Fisheries villages: 108

Fishing household: 12680

Active fishermen: 15210

Fishing population: 56840

Fish Landing centres: 66 Fishing boats: 4184

Chilaw fishery district

Fisheries villages: 40

Fishing household: 8970

Active fishermen: 10760

Fishing population: 40270

Fishing landing centres: 60

Fishing boats: 3916

Gampaha administrative district

Land area: 1341sqkm

Inland waters: 46sqkm

Population: 2140000

Fish Production: 35960mt

Negombo fishery district

Fisheries villages: 82

Fishing household: 13360

Active fishermen: 12150

Fishing population: 62030

Fish Landing centres: 112

Fishing boats: 4500

Fisheries 10 year plan

RFLP also supports the fisheries ten year plan that will be running up to 2016 in Sri Lanka. Among the main policy objectives and policy measures identified in the plan are improving nutritional status and food security by increasing fish production, minimizing post-harvest losses and improving fish quality, increasing employment opportunities and improving socio-economic status of fishing communities, increasing foreign exchange from fish products, conserving the coastal and aquatic environment, improving fisheries management framework by amending and updating laws and regulations, reducing fishing pressure on coastal fisheries, strengthening community based organizations, promoting culture of marine and brackish water fish including ornamental fish and also introducing alternative livelihoods to reduce pressure on the coastal environment.

Women and fisheries

The RFLP has also focused on enhancing women participation in the fisheries industry in the selected areas adding a broader meaning to empowering of women. It will also look ahead to understand the importance of different livelihood activities of men and women, enabling to understand how gender impacts upon how fisheries are managed specially in the areas of how men and women interact with the resources.

According to the latest updates, it is estimated that around 50 million women in developing countries are employed in the fishing industry. Women are the main workers in processing and marketing stages of industrial fisheries. Besides, they are also looking after the household, taking care of their families in the spheres of educational, health and dietary needs. They also often engage in the management of household money matters.

Fruitful implementation of RFLP

In a special message at the inception of the Sri Lankan component of RFLP, Hon. Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Felix Perera stated that Sri Lanka is an island nation with a high potential for sustainable development of fisheries particularly with the removal of restrictions for fishing in many parts of the island at the successful completion of the war against terrorism.

A heavy competition among coastal fishermen has risen due to the supply of too many boats to replace the damaged and destroyed ones under the tsunami assistance programs. Hence precautionary measures are required to manage the levels of exploitation of resources while maintaining equitable distribution of incomes, from the fishing activities as they cater for livelihoods of small scale fisheries,” the Minister’s message indicates.

Majority of the fish production in Sri Lanka comes from small boat population operating in coastal fisheries and hence preservation of fish quality on-board the fishing vessels is a priority coupled to land based value chain, up to consumer level.

Addressing at the occasion MFAR National Coordinator for RFLP D.S. Nandasena also pointed out that bad handling of the fish catch on-board the vessel and landing is a key issue that should definitely be addressed if the standard quality of the catch is to be preserved until it reaches the consumer.

Expressing views, Secretary of the MFAR G. Piyasena stated that there exist many challenges to overcome by fishers of Sri Lanka, specially in small-scale fisheries sector, such as poor knowledge and adherence to fisheries regulations, lack of cooperation and commitment of fishing community for the use of fishing gear and practise fishing methods permitted under fisheries regulations, weak assessment of the fish stocks affecting its reliability and catch data, safety at sea and on board spoilage to uplift their life styles by improving their livelihoods.

Technical advisor for RFLP Don Griffith speaking at the inception of the Sri Lankan component of RFLP said that although the funds would not include direct credit and it would also not be utilized for large-scale infrastructure constructions such as fisher ports in the country, FAO and RFLP would promote the best development practice work with the fisher groups while support would be extended towards input costs and small equipment items to reduce the risk of new activities losing money.

e also added that attention would be paid to improve the quality of the fishing procedures in the country where such practices hardly exist in most instances up to the satisfactory levels of maintaining the quality of the product at present. He also said that the co-management of the whole process would be abided by the legal procedures of the Sri Lankan Government.