Substantial increase in fish catches

Chamikara Weerasinghe

There is a substantial increase in fish catches in coastal regions as a result of steps taken by Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Ministry to ban the use of destructive fishing gears, states Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne.

The Minister was speaking at a press conference held yesterday at the Government Information Department.

Small scale fishermen in Dodanduwa, Ambalangoda, Beruwala, Galle and other coastal regions say they catch loads of fish from their fishing territories than usual in recent times.

They said they also get to catch unusual quantities of fully grown sprats (Hal massa) among other fish types such as Hurulla, Bolla, Kumbalawa and Saalaya.

As pointed out by Ceylon Fisheries Corporation officials (CFC) the flooding of large quantities of Hurulla, Bolla and Saalaya into the market, has caused the price of Balaya to go down. The price of Balaya has declined by 26.53 percent. The Ceylon Fisheries Corporation sold a kilo of Balaya at Rs 490 in December last year.

The Corporation sells Balaya at Rs 360 now.

The outside price has also plummeted from Rs 560 per kilo in December 2009 to Rs 450 in December 2010.

The prices of all fish varieties have gone down by an average of 22.74 percent this year compared to prices in 2009 in terms of fish prices maintained by CFC. Private sector fish prices stand to denote an average price reduction of 19.39 percent compared to 2009, said Minister Senaratne.

The fishermen have been able to catch fully grown sprats, Hurulla, Bolla and Kumbalaawa fish these days owing to steps taken by the Fisheries Ministry to make all types of destructive fishing methods illegal, Senaratne said.

The Ministry banned the use of fishing methods and gears such as bottom trawling, dynamiting, light course fishing, Kadan course, push nets, long liners and enclosed nets and several other harmful fishing gears, he said.

These measures have paved the way to productivity of the resource by ensuring the uninterrupted spawning and growth of juvenile fish, he said.

"Methods such as light course kill thousands of juvenile fish," he said.

"When I banned the use of light course fishing, the light course fishermen in Matara and Beruwala staged demonstrations. But we held on to our nerve knowing that we were doing the right thing results of which are now being reaped by the fishermen," he said.

"I also banned the use of push nets and nylon drag nets among all other harmful fishing nets. Even went to the extent of banning their imports, he said.

The Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development has prosecuted 229 suspects so far this year for using banned fishing gears and methods. "We have put an end to the use of dynamiting in the seas off Trincomalee," he said.

We have stopped all kinds of illegal fishing operations in our waters using explosives except in Mannar.

Senaratne said he will deal with it very soon .

He said he will take up the matter with the Navy Commander. I will bring the situation of dynamiting under control by requesting the Navy to arrest the culprits who engage in the activity in Mannar soon, he added.