Marine fishery contribution to economy vital

Text of the speech by Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne at Ministerial level Session at Indian Ocean Fisheries and Tuna Consultative meeting on February 11-12, 2011 in Colombo.

First part of this article was published yesterday

There are international conventions - in particular the Law of the Sea and other related instruments under which distant water nation’s access the living resources of the Indian Ocean. Some of these countries characterize themselves as Indian Ocean countries by the mere retention of small increments of territories which are remnants of the colonial era and contain small residual populations living far from the metropolitan territories.

Yet those international rules which provide for fishing on the High Seas do not encourage the freedom of the wild ass.

They are enshrined in the lofty goals of sustainable development and the constraints of equity in access to and sharing of resources which all nations have subscribed to.

Private entrepreneurs

One principle that has always found eventual acceptance in the international community is respect for the interests and rights of developing countries. Furthermore there is acceptance that fisheries must be responsible.

It is for sovereign states to apply these universally accepted norms to entities within their respective jurisdictions whether national or regional.

Organizations such as the EU must function to reflect such values and ensure control and regulations of private entrepreneurs who go forth to plunder the resources of less privileged nations. It reminds of us so much of the colonial companies which exploited these regions not too long ago and operating under the auspices of their host nations.

For a good 30 years the distant water fleet has taken approximately half of the Indian Ocean Tuna catch, whether reflected in the catches of collaborating countries or individually. Now that they have had the benefit of totally unregulated fishing for so long, we must ask them and ourselves whether they have not had their fill and much more than their fair share out of our Ocean. Is it not time that we moved to curb this depredation.

What we are seeking is

* A reduction in the industrial scale exploitation of Indian Ocean Tuna by distant water fleets;

*Increase in the catches of developing coastal states;

* Ensuring long-term sustainability of Indian Ocean Tuna;

* Immediate changes in fishing methods especially in the use of fish aggregation devices (FADs);

* Recognizing the preferential rights of developing coastal states to harvest the living resources of the Indian Ocean as primary producers.

Our gathering here in Sri Lanka is an historic event. It marks the beginning of an era of change and gathering of developing coastal states to protect their fish resources.

This is nothing new; it is a natural and logical process that has taken place in other Ocean regions where distant water fleets have clashed with local nations. The Indian Ocean had been spared, but today there is a need for us to act collectively, firmly and in a determined manner to find an equitable solution.

Urban development

I call on all of you, my Ministerial colleagues who have come here to demonstrate their solidarity and other delegations present here to sustain this effort and to join in a collective international effort to find that solution through dialogue and diplomacy with those nations to persuade them to interment ensure equity and responsible conduct with regard to those entities carrying out destructive fishing practices in our region.

Fisheries are one of three front-line or thrust areas for development in Sri Lanka’s current development effort. (The others are tourism and urban development).

The Sri Lanka national fisheries sector development strategy for 2010 - 2013 has been formulated based on the Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma. It has assumed that the Sri Lankan population by 2015 would be 21.167 million, and minimum per capita fish requirement recommended by the Medical Research Institute (MRI) of Sri Lanka would be 60g per day. On this basis, fish production projections in this strategy have been formulated considering 2009 as the base year.

The major focus of the strategy is as follows;

* Increased annual per capita fish consumption of 21.9 kg by 2013;

* Increased local fish production. It has been targeted to double the national fish production of the based year by 2013;

* Established price competitiveness by means of promoting marketing;

*Adopt measures for fisheries social development through fisheries development;

Implementation and management of fisheries sustainably by using novel techniques and responding to international treaties on Law of the Sea.

Objectives of fisheries sector development strategy are;

* Increase the national fish production in order to enhance the nutritional status of the nation by means of higher per capita consumption of fish.

* Promote exploitation of Sri Lankan fisheries and aquatic resources while maintaining biological sustainability through application of novel techniques.

* Diversify the fishing industry to facilitate adaptation with the present environmental scenarios such as climatic change and episodic coastal disasters.

* Enhance the socio-economic status of the fishing communities.

* Development fisheries infrastructure in the Northern and the Eastern regions compliance with the present and future requirements.

Specific objectives of the strategy;

The specific objectives of this plan are to;

* Increase per capita fish consumption by 60 grams per day by 2013

* Increase the local fish production by 685,690 Mt by 2013

* Price competitiveness by means of promoting marketing

* Fisheries social development through enhancement of socio-economic status of the productive poor

* Implementation and management of fisheries sustainably by using novel techniques while maintaining biological sustainability

* Assure compliance with the international treaties on Law of the Sea

* Increase foreign exchange earnings through enhancement of fish and non-traditional fish product exports.

Concluded