Ample opportunities to make fishing a lucrative trade in North

The fishing community of the North has undergone many hardships due to the 30 year conflict which destroyed not only fishing industry but also the other industries in the region. The North was providing 30% of the fish requirement of the country prior to the war. But the fishing community facing all hardships even today catches 9% of the requirement which is remarkable.

Though some of the restrictions have been lifted maximising the potential in this sector has become an issue as they don't have the required equipment. Therefore, trawlers and multi day boats from India and Bangkok fish in Sri Lankan waters.

The fishing village of Point Pedro has 250 boats which go to sea at 10 pm and return by 5am due to restrictions. On an average day fishermen catch between 1000-1500 kgs which can increase upto 5000 kgs on a good day. Most of it is sent to Colombo in coolers while the rest is consumed.

The owners of the boats spend Rs 500,000 on each net but when trawlers from India and Bangkok come the nets get destroyed and it is a huge loss for the owners. Some of the problems faced by these people are lack of new technology to catch the harvest and also the restrictions on time and the use of high powered boats.

Another problem highlighted was the shortage of manpower. Due to the 30 year war sons of fishermen have gone abroad. Therefore, there is a lack of manpower as fishing has been a traditional occupation.

At present there are 600 fisher families in Point Pedro and it is increasing by the day due to IDPs returning from Vanni.

There is ample opportunity for investment in this sector.

At present most of the catch is sent to Colombo and now John Keells Holdings have started to sell the fish from the North in their chain of super markets. But upto now nobody has taken an interest to set up a factory to process and export sea food.

The Business for Peace Forum explained all the opportunities available. Investors see this as a potential sector and it is expected that there will be investors for this lucrative trade.

SG