Fisheries ministry did not receive any weather warning - Deputy Minister

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratna yesterday said it does not issue weather reports to the media on behalf of the Meteorology Department.

The Deputy Minister said this on being asked if it was due to not apprising the public of the stormy weather conditions predicted by the Meteorology Department to the Fisheries Ministry that some fishermen had set sail to sea last Friday and lost their lives due to cyclonic weather.

He said, "although the Meteorology Department had claimed that that it sent a weather warning to the Fisheries Ministry about the conditions at 4.30 pm on Friday, the ministry has not received any message or fax to this effect.

"We have not received any faxes from the Meteorology Department about cyclonic weather conditions at 4.30 pm on the day in question. However , they had sent a fax at 5 am, the next morning. Everything had taken place by that time," he explained.

He said , the Meteorology Department has failed to mention about cyclonic weather in any of their warnings to the ministry or the media. He said, 41 fishermen died in the seas hit by intense cyclone and 23 bodies have been recovered.

"The highest number of deaths were reported from Galle. The deaths include five fishermen in the Colombo district, seven from Kalutara, and one from Negombo," the minister said.

He said steps were taken by his ministry on the advice of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to deliver necessary aid to the affected families. Deputy Minister Gunaratna said, the President had asked what had happened on Friday,whether the ministry was unable to inform the fishing community about the dangerous weather conditions that prevailed.

"I informed the President that we informed all multi-day fishing vessels to refrain from going to sea based on our knowledge of the sea, and that they were so informed not based on Meteorology Department weather warnings as such,"he said. The Met Department has not warned of any danger in the sea in any of their reports. He said.He said, the boats hit by cyclones were small 15 HP-engine boats , that do not have radio equipment.

"Had Meteorology Department issued a weather warning over radio or TV for that matter, they would not have set sail to their own detriment," he pointed out. The Deputy Minister also said, he discussed the matter with Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, who has been asked to submit a report on the incident by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.