Planet Ocean

For a country that is entirely surrounded by water, our knowledge of the ocean and its resources is sparse at best. With the country acquiring an even bigger ocean area under international maritime conventions, it is time that we enhanced our knowledge of this vast resource.

The first step in this direction has been taken with the process of oil exploration by Cairn Lanka and other entities. It has come to light that offshore areas in Mannar have ample gas and hydrocarbon deposits. This is a positive development with great potential. Once the process of extraction begins, Sri Lanka will be in a position to reduce its petroleum import bill.

Quite apart from the quest for oil, the process has helped scientists to learn more about the ocean bed off Sri Lanka. This is what is sorely lacking in Sri Lanka, whereas most other countries have extensively studied their ocean areas.

It is in this context that we should commend the National Aquatic Research Agency (NARA) for planning to use aerial and underwater unmanned vehicles with remote sensing technology to study the oceans around the country, as reported by several media outlets. NARA Chairman Hiran Jayewardene has been quoted as saying that they would team up with the Sri Lanka Air Force, which has Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for aerial mapping of the sea.

This is a valuable project which will hopefully have a lot of benefits. Remote sensing is already well established abroad and Sri Lanka too can use the process to learn more about the ocean surrounding it.

Marine research

It was also reported that NARA researchers are in talks with French oceanographic and geophysical research units to collaborate on the use of underwater gliders for marine research.

The gliders can be pre-programmed to go on a path at approximately one kilometer per hour and collect data on underwater conditions such as temperature and light levels at various depths which can be transmitted to a surface vessel or other facility.

Other underwater features too could be studied. The recent incident where several Southern fishermen lost their precious lives due to lack of timely warnings on oceanic weather conditions reminds us of the importance of studying sea-borne weather patterns as well.

We are told that the forecasting facilities at the Meteorology Department are being upgraded to meet this challenge. Careful and constant analysis of satellite data is essential in this endeavour.

We also need to have a fair idea of the fish stocks in the ocean area that belongs to the country. Sonar technology is already well established in this respect, but other modern technologies should be used for this purpose as well.

This could pave the way for sustainable fishing, because there has been a tendency for the overfishing of certain species. Scientists and fisheries officials will also be able to know what species are being depleted rapidly and what species have healthy stock levels. Along with weather updates, such useful information can be shared with the fishing community islandwide.

There has also been no comprehensive survey of shipwrecks around the island.

Amazing stories

Plenty of ships have sunk in our waters, but only a few have been explored and even fewer have been salvaged. Shipwrecks tell us amazing stories from the past and it is worth looking for them purely from a scientific point of view, even though 'treasure' is likely to be the first response of many people.

We hope the authorities would also take steps to map the shipwrecks, which often make excellent diving sites. This proposal makes economic sense from that angle as well.

That brings us to the question of identifying more diving sites around the island. Diving enthusiasts now explore only a few spots around the island, but there is potential to discover more dive sites which will help lure more tourists.

The authorities could perhaps enlist the help of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) in this endeavour.

It is heartening to note that the Navy, with its vast experience of the seas around the island, is playing a key role in developing coastal tourism especially with its whale watching and Thalaimannar Adam's Bridge tours.

Seafood scene

Apart from fish, what about other types of food from the ocean ? We have seen plenty of prawn farms on the coastline, but it is also part of the seafood scene. Now NARA is set to introduce seaweed (Nori) and sea cucumber (a delicacy in many parts of the world) farming in Sri Lanka for the first time.

The pilot project is slated to begin in the North and the East, two provinces whose maritime potential is yet to be fully tapped after being dragged into a three-decade conflict.

There is a big market in certain countries for these products and the local market, while not very familiar with the two products, can also be penetrated over a period of time with an effective marketing campaign. It could be a lucrative export earnings avenue - a kilogram of dried sea cucumber can fetch as much as US$ 250.

There is an emerging market for sea cucumber in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries too. Seaweed is also a huge business, worth around US$ 5 billion globally. The ocean is often referred to as the Last Frontier, because we still know so little about it. Ironically, we know more about the surface of the Moon than we know about the deeper parts of the Earth's Ocean which covers 75 per cent of the planet.

There are millions of species in the seas, out of which scientists have catalogued and studied only a fraction. Sri Lanka is ideally placed to share the knowledge it gains on the ocean with the international scientific community. Our universities should be heavily involved in this research exercise.

The setting up of a separate internationally recognized Ocean University is thus a step in the right direction. It would help produce renowned Sri Lankan oceanographers and ocean experts who can take oceanic research in Sri Lanka to a new level.