Mother ship arrives from China

*Fish prices to come down

*Fish collection to rise

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

A mother ship from China with built in freezers, refrigerated sea water (RSW) system, Chilled Water System (SWM), fuel and food storage facilities will arrive in the country before the end of the month.

The vessel is being built in China at a cost of Rs 160 million. Over 95 percent work of the ship has already been completed.

Once the vessel is deployed to conduct mother ship operations such as providing fuel, food, and other supplies to deep sea-based fishing fleets in the sea , it can have a major impact on fish production and prices. Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratna yesterday said the Ministry expects to bring the vessel at the end of this month.

The Minister has sent a Port Authority engineer to China to inspect the vessel. The vessel made in China will be the first mother ship to be launched.

The Ministry plans to introduce another to the fleet, the Minister said. "The manufacturing of the second ship will be given to the Ceynor Foundation," he said.

The Ministry will spend Rs 360 million for the vessels.

Ministry's Technical Director General Indra Ranasinghe said there are about 3,000 multi-day boats in the country of which 70 percent are operating.

Each of these vessels spend about Rs 500,000 for a trip of one or one and half months in the sea.

They will be able to cut the fuel costs by obtaining fuel from the mother ship at sea rather than having to return to land.

The fishermen will be able to stay three to five months at sea at a stretch as they can get supplies of fuel and food to their boats at the sea, which means they can increase their fish collections by several fold.

Their operational costs on fishing trips will be much less with the mother ship providing fuel, food and other items.

The fishermen will also be able to transfer their catch from their boats to the mother ship.

"These are advanced systems that can preserve the quality of their fish collection. The consumers will get quality fish as a result," Ranasinghe said.

The mother ship can also keep the fishermen informed about areas where the density of fish schools are high, and prevent them from hopelessly hanging around in the sea, he added.