Modern management, efficiency for fisheries sector

Modern management methods and efficiency would be introduced to the fisheries sector so that we would increase the fish catch and rid the Corporation of the mafia that is controlling it, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said.

The Fisheries Corporation was established by the late socialist leader Phillip Gunawardena during the 1950s to give the fishermen the opportunity to earn sufficient income by selling their catch. But today the Corporation has become a tool in the hands of a mafia of middlemen and merchants.

He was speaking at the function held when the new Fisheries Corporation and Ceynor Foundation Chairmen and General Managers took over their duties last week. Today the country is not benefited by the catch of fish. The Fisheries Corporation is not performing its duty as it is controlled by the middlemen and merchants, the Minister observed.

I have taken the challenge to rid the fishery industry of this mafia so that both the fishermen and the consumers would benefit from the vast resource of fish we have around our country. I will ensure that the change for the better will be made withing the next six months, the Minister said.

According to statistics the sea fish and fresh water fish catch during 2009 was 339,730 metric tonnes and it is our target to increase this by tenfold during the next 6 years. The newly appointed chairmen and general managers were selected by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as they are capable of achieving that target and with the cooperation of the staff of these two institutions we should be able to achieve the target, he noted.

He said as the Construction Minister he was able to turnaround the loss making State Engineering Corporation and State Development and Construction Corporation and to pay the employees their bonus, EPF and ETF as the employees cooperated in making the two institutions profit-making bodies.