Are we using our marine resources in a sustainable manner?

by Mayanthie JAYASINGHE

The Susan George Pulimood Memorial Oration was delivered by Prof Ruchira Cumaranatunge at the Jeremias Dias Hall of Visakha Vidyalaya on the 23rd July 2009. The 19th in an unbroken series, the oration was titled "Are we using our marine resources in a sustainable manner?" It offered an enlightening glimpse into the largely unwisely exploited, ocean heritage of the country.

She spoke about our ocean heritage which stretches for 200 nautical miles all round Sri Lanka and how it is haphazardly harvested with no thought of sustainability due to ignorance of proper practices.

Professor Cumaranatunge, speaking on the need for fishing communities to be educated on methods of value addition as foreign markets for karawala and "jaadi" were limited as "currently surplus stocks are turned into dried fish using sunlight to evaporate the moisture or preserved as "jaadi" by traditional marinating methods after deterioration of the quality". The low quality of such products is evident from the strong smell. Smoked fish is a value added product, not currently produced in Sri Lanka which could reach connoisseur markets.

The fishing community needed to be weaned from unhealthy fishing practices like using dynamite to catch reef fish, which led to large numbers of fish and other flora and fauna being destroyed.

The shelf life of fish harvested in this manner is short too. The use of gill nets with mesh sizes below the size recommended contributed to unsustainability of the fishery as immature fish get caught from shoals of migratory fish.

Commercial harvesting of colourful marine ornamental fish, sea-cucumber ("beche-de-mer"), conch shells ("Chanks"), lobsters etc, is done "without proper scientific studies done on the sustainability of such resources" she said.

The non availability of enough deep sea fishing vessels prevent fishermen making proper use of the fishing grounds further away from the shore. If deep sea fishing vessels with canning facilities on board or proper storage facilities are made available Sri Lanka could easily export surplus stocks harvested in this manner.

The coral reefs found mainly in the South, North-West and the East of the country are a living heritage built up through eons by the activity of small animals (Cnidarians) and Zooxanthillae a tiny plant with which it lives harmoniously. This relationship is very vulnerable to climatic change and warming oceans as well as to pollutants which cause the relationship to breakdown and the Zooxanthillae to get ejected from the coral. This may cause coral bleaching, which in turn contributes to the destruction of the reef. Such phenomena makes highland vulnerable to erosion.

Dr. Cumaranatunge explained how a team of local scientists are growing coral to replace and repair destroyed reefs. She explained how the original method of growing coral on concrete was not as successful as the subsequently developed method of growing on iron grids as vegetations tended to cover the growing tender corals depriving sunlight reaching the Zooxanthillae.

"Artificial coral reefs can be constructed through transplanting of corals which could be used for eco-tourism and also help to save the natural coral reefs for our future generations".

Agar and Carrageenan are currently imported in large quantities for production of confectionaries, ice-cream, cosmetics, etc. "Farming marine algae is an underutilized area of commercial importance. Sea-weeds (sea grasses and algae) and unutilized resources such as Nudibranchs, sponges, etc., can be of agricultural and medical importance" says Prof, Cumaranatunge.

Value additions would contribute towards bigger earnings than exporting minerals in their raw form. e.g. production of Anatase from Ilmanite, which is currently used to coat surfaces, which needs self cleaning. Subsequently the country imports products that incorporate such materials at much higher prices

Finally she touched on the importance of correct awareness through professional guidance when administrators venture into giant foreign collaborations example: the Sethu Samudram project, where Sri Lanka would lose vast tracts of a unique biodiversity but not gain much from the sacrifice. The delimitation of the outer margin of the Economic Expansion Zone (EEZ) will give Sri Lanka access to a vast area of the sea-bed, more than 20 times of its land area. "It is possible that resources, such as oil, gas and mineral resources exist in the Cauvary basin and the sea-bed area to be claimed under the expansion of the EEZ" said Prof. Cumarantunga. She stressed the importance of higher educational systems being geared to produce researchers and graduates with knowledge and experience required to reap such resources for future economic development of the country.

The lecture made one think not only whether we were using our marine resources but also our qualified professionals' knowledge in a sustainable manner.

Ruchira Cumaranatunge B.Sc. (2nd Class Hons.) University of Sri Lanka, Vidyalankara Campus, Ph.D, University of Ashton, Birmingham, UK, Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholar, University of Ashton, UK, Fulbright Senior Research Scholar, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA, Senior Professor of Fisheries and Biology, Founder Dean, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences and Technology, University of Ruhuna, Matara. She is currently the Senior Professor of Fisheries Biology at the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences and Technology at the University of Ruhuna, Matara.