Fisheries sector to the fore in fighting malnutrition - Dr.Rajitha Senaratne

By P. Krishnaswamy

Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Dr.Rajitha Senaratne spoke out his mind on prospects of realising President Mahinda Rajapaksa's vision of transforming Sri Lanka as the wonder nation of Asia, the targets of his Ministry towards that goal, the achievements so far, the significant role that the fisheries sector could play towards eliminating malnutrition in the country, the cross-border fishing issues, the problems faced by the Northern fishermen due to undeterred poaching by the Indian fishermen, the illegal fishing methods practised by them and his stance on that, in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: Can you explain the salient features of the development goals projected for the fisheries industry after you took over the Ministry in 2009 and the targets achieved so far?

A: In developing the fisheries industry, the primary focus was on addressing the malnutrition problem of the people of the country. Now we have a malnutrition of 21 percent among children.

The WHO says that it will come down to 12 percent by 2013. So my first target is to eliminate that 12 percent malnutrition also in that year.

When I took over the per capita consumption of fish per day was only 31 grams. We have set up the targets to increase it to 60 grams by 2013.

Already it has increased to 35 grams. Our total fish production has to reach 685,000 tonnes in 2013 to achieve this target.

When that is achieved everybody will have the required amount of fish. Malnutrition is due to protein deficiency and 72 percent of the people of this country depend on the intake of animal protein. So this is the correct method to get rid of malnutrition.

Secondly, we want to strengthen the fishermen because they are the spine of this industry. So we have made this as a tax free industry in the best interests of the fishermen.

All permits are now being issued free of charge. We have arranged loan schemes to them at the lowest interest rates with provision of all other facilities.

The Government is subsidising 4 percent of the interests on their loans. In respect of the Northern fishermen, the Government repays 25 percent of their loans while also subsidising 4 percent of the interests on such loans. We are also introducing an insurance scheme for all fishermen.

From January it will become compulsory for every seafaring fisherman to get insured under this scheme so that they will be compensated if anything happened. A pension scheme is also to be introduced under which they will be paid a monthly pension of Rs. 10,000 on reaching 65. My future plan is to start a housing scheme for them. Other plans include scholarships for their school-going children until they complete university education and provision of self-employment facilities.

These three projects are in the pipeline while all other projects for their welfare have been started and already offered to them.

Thirdly, we want to make it a modern industry, providing the latest art-of-the-trade technology. We have got rid of all illegal methods of fishing after identifying them. In the North it was the bottom trawling method, in the East usage of explosives and in the South other such illegal methods.

We have totally banned the usage of mono-filament nets and have also banned their import. As part of the program to introduce new methods we are providing the fishermen the advantage of long liners.

Even next year we are going to bring 100 vessels, especially for the North. More multi-day boats will be introduced so that fish in the international waters, 48 percent of which is being harvested at present by Europeans can be harvested.

A vessel monitoring system will also be in place soon. Under the system we can give warning to the fishermen if they are straying, crossing borders or encountering other dangers.

Fish zones can be found and the details communicated to them so that they can go to that area to do their fishing. Through satellite observations, accurate weather forecasts and natural calamities, including cyclones, earth quakes and tsunami, would be communicated in advance.

A 'Mother Vessel System' will be introduced whereby the mother vessels carrying all requirements including food, fuel and water will provide the requirements of the fishing vessels after gathering them at mid sea. The mother vessels will purchase their fish harvest enabling them to continue fishing without having to return to the shore to deliver it.

There had been no representation from Sri Lanka to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) for many years when I took over the Ministry in 2009 and we were almost blacklisted. I was able to convince them and make them to hold their 15th annual conference in Colombo in March this year which helped us earn their goodwill and the much-needed recognition to our fisheries industry.

We were also able to have the first ever Asian Fisheries Ministers conference in Colombo in July this year where we adopted the Colombo Declaration. Our resolution calling for the meeting to be held every year was also adopted. The conference was organised by the FAO and, therefore, we have become an active participant in the FAO.

Q: Fishermen's organisations in Mannar recently staged protest demonstrations against the prevailing pass system to divers for conch-shell and sea cucumber fishing, such passes in the possession of to scuba-divers from outside areas, the presence of fishermen from the South and the undeterred poaching by the Indian Fishermen. Your comment?

A: Poaching is a long unresolved problem. It was continuing for 30 long years in the North during the turbulent period. It has now come to light because terrorism has been eliminated and peace has been restored.

Now the Northern fishermen are going to the sea but they are deterred and harassed by the Indian fishermen. Some NGO men in the fisheries sector took some Sri Lankan fishermen to Tamil Nadu disguising them as fishermen's representatives and entered into an agreement with the Tamil Nadu fishermen's Unions giving them access to Sri Lankan territorial fishing waters 70 days in an year. This is also one reason for the continuing intervention of the Indian fishermen.

I rejected this agreement and said that the fishermen should mind their own business and the Government would do whatever was necessary after consulting the fishermen's representatives. Already there is a bilateral agreement between the two countries on this issue.

I am very strong in my stand that neither the Indian fishermen should come here nor our fishermen should go there. When five of our fishermen stray into their territorial waters, five thousand of them come here for poaching regularly. They destroy our fertile fishing resources, the breeding grounds and corals.

During a recent visit of the Indian Foreign Secretary, the President had told him the issue relating to cross-border fishing should be discussed with me and not with him. I am very adamant in my stand that no Indian fishermen should come here.

India is our friend and they stood by us during the war against terrorism. They stand by us now when we face threats from many Western powers.

We enjoy very good neighbourly relations with India. But this is a matter concerning the livelihood of our Northern fishermen who had suffered for three long decades and it is a big problem for us.

The Joint Working Committee meeting has been fixed for the 13th and 14th of next month (January 2012).

We are in an advantageous position because the Head of the Indian Coast Guard had recently told before the judiciary that the Indian fishermen's entry into our territorial waters itself is illegal they are also practising bottom trawling method banned by our country. When I took over the fisheries Ministry, there were 779 Sri Lankan fishermen kept in detention in India.

This year the number is only 23. Two weeks back when I went to Mannar, representatives of fishermen's unions said that poaching by Indian fishermen had reduced by about 35 percent. But it has to be settled once and for all. There is an international maritime border and the UN Law of the Sea. Everyone has to abide by that.

On the question of passes for divers doing sea cucumber and conch-shell fishing, I have given clear instructions to the Assistant Director of Fisheries in Mannar to do away with the system and he has done so.

Scuba divers have been instructed to do fishing 20 Km away from the shore and that is what the Mannar fishermen insisted upon.

For export of sea-cucumber they have to pay at the rate of Rs. 25 per shell and Rs. 100 per kg of sea-cucumber to the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation (CFC) to get a permit.

On the question of Southern fishermen going to Mannar, I have not given permits for any of the Southern fishermen to go for fishing to the North. I have banned them from going to the North. I strongly deny such accusations coming from anyone.

Q: What do you consider as the major drawback in realising President Mahinda Rajapaksa's vision of transforming Sri Lanka as the 'Wonder of Asia'?

A: Of course, the President declared Sri Lanka as the 'Wonder of Asia' but he cannot deliver it alone. We, the Ministers, should get together and we should create the wonder in our respective sectors.

I wish to recall what former Singaporean PM Lee Kuan Yew said when a media personnel asked him his secret on transforming Singapore as the Wonder of Asia. He said " We appoint the correct persons to the correct positions and, while doing it, we only look at their qualifications and suitability to that positions." Those Ministers transformed Singapore as the Wonder of Asia. The same applies to us. The President can lead us and guide us but we have to deliver the wonder.

Q: A Deputy Minister recently accused you that you had failed in your duty as Minister of Fisheries by not making arrangements to ensure the availability of fresh fish in the CFC stalls for the consumers. Your comments please?

A: It may be either that he does not have knowledge of the fisheries industry or has a grudge against me for some reasons.

I banned bottom trawling in the Gampaha district same as I did in the Northern seas. Some of them wanted me to waive it but I stood firm in my decision to completely ban bottom trawling in the best interests of the long term sustainability of the fisheries industry. This can be a reason for such accusations. When I took over the Fisheries Ministry, the CFC was incurring an annual loss of Rs. 103 million. I have now brought it down to just Rs. 23 million, financially strengthening the CFC in the recent years. The improvement in financial terms is Rs. 80 Million. I have set up 102 CFC stalls throughout the country and I provide Rs. 1.5 Million to every stall. The long outstanding EPF and ETF dues of CFC employees have now been paid up and there is no arrears, unlike when I took over.

I have spent a total amount of Rs. 120 million on paying up the EPF and ETF dues. But to buy fish from fishermen at the beach, without going through a third party businessman, we need capital in hand because the payments to the fishermen have to be settled the same day or the following day.

So we buy from the third party businessmen because they sell us on one-month credit terms.

The Treasury does not give us money and no funds are vested on the CFC. We will get over all these hurdles by next year after settling the outstanding liability of Rs. 23 million and, then, it will become possible to purchase fish direct from the fishermen.

Q: The President, when he was Minister of Fisheries, made a representation to the UN requesting for a greater oceanic area for Sri Lanka and that was under consideration. Will the recent so-called HR violation issues impair the favourable consideration of that request?

A: This program is not affected by any of those issues. We have been given dates to make our submissions by 2020. I am doing everything possible to have those dates advanced so that we will be able to make our submissions sooner.

Q: Is anything being done by your Ministry to restore the debilitated condition of marine resources and breeding grounds in our territorial waters, mainly due to bottom trawling by foreign poachers?

A: First we have to stop this senseless ravage of our traditional fishing grounds. Bottom trawling by the Indian fishermen is continuing although I have banned it. We need the help of the armed forces, especially the Navy.

They should understand the grave nature of the problem and do everything possible to prevent it.

My decision to ban bottom trawling is not being implemented properly. Recently, after arresting and producing the poachers in Court, they had withdrawn their plaint saying they had orders from their superiors to immediately release the offenders.

All are talking about the few businessmen who are causing damages to our marine resources. But they are not talking about the large scale destructions being caused in the Northern and Eastern seas and the precarious condition of the fishermen in those parts. This the real situation today. I need the support of the Navy to have my decisions implemented sternly.

Q: The Indian Deputy External Affairs Minister had told the Indian parliament recently that 154 Indian fishermen were killed by the Sri Lankan Navy during the past five years. How far is this correct?

A: I am of the view that the actual situation and facts are being concealed in an effort to keep the cross-border issue as a burning issue. Nobody has the correct figures as to how many were killed by the Navy, if at all any of them were killed by them, and how many were killed by the LTTE, who then had more powerful vessels and weapons than the Navy, as a sinister strategy of provocation.

I have known of instances where the Navy had merely stopped the poachers from entering our territorial waters and made them to go back and subsequently they had accused that the Navy had attacked them. They are agitating saying that the Sri Lankan Navy is arresting their fishermen.

We release any of the fishermen getting arrested without much delay. But our fishermen arrested in India are kept in detention for months and years.I cannot understand this. The Law of the Sea should be common to all. I strongly feel that our Navy is not taking stern action against the poachers.

Q: Is the Dickowita fishing harbour functional at present?

A: We have to do another small arch. We are hoping to open the harbour by February next year. That will be one of the biggest fishing harbours in South Asia.

Q: What is the present situation with regard to starting fish canning factories?

A: In January and February two fish canning factories will be opened. One in Galle with the collaboration of the CFC. It will produce about 12,000 cans per day. The other one is at Paliyagoda which will produce 20,000 cans per day.

A third will be started in Mundel, Northwestern province, in March next year to produce 10,000 cans per day. But what they would produce would not be enough to meet the local requirement. We need a minimum of 100,000 cans per day. A businessman from Kalmunai visited me today with proposals for starting a very large fish canning factory in Kalmunai.

He has earned is wealth overseas. He wants to buy fishing vessels and produce about 1 million cans per day. Part of that will be given for local consumption while the rest will be exported. I have approved the proposal.

Q: Can you please tell us the Ministry's plans to allot lands in the Eastern province for prawn farming?

A: It is being done. I have already allocated 400 hectares in Trincomalee and in Batticaloa to a member of the Tamil diaspora from UK. All infrastructure facilities are now being set up in the Eastern province for prawn farming on the large scale, including prawn hatcheries.