VMS to monitor fishing operations
Chamikara Weerasinghe
The Fisheries Ministry will begin using satellite-based Vessel
Monitoring System (VMS)to monitor all fishing operations to ensure that
they take place within the country’s stipulated laws, Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratna said.
The System will enable them to prevent Illegal, Unreported and
Unregistered (IUU) fishing operations, he said.
Minister Senaratna in a statement to mark World Fisheries Day which
fell yesterday, said that he is happy to announce that he was able to
achieve 75 percent of the targets set out in the Mahinda Chintana to
develop the fisheries sector in Sri Lanka.
Local fish production at 339,000 metric tonnes in 2009 will be
increased to 400,000 metric tonnes in 2010, the Minister said.
Fish collection of Northern and Eastern provinces are expected to
increase by 43 percent. The country’s coastal and deep sea based fish
catches are expected to increase by 194 percent by 2013, Dr Senaratna
said. Plans are afoot to increase the country’s fresh water fish
production by 100 percent, he said. “We have placed action to introduce
mother-ship operations to support our multi-day fishing operations,” he
said. |