Ocean University to make Lanka a global leader in marine science

by Ranil Wijayapala

The world's economic power shifting from one region to the other from time to time. It was the United States and the Europe that became the world economic power in the 19th and 20th centuries and Asia reins the world economic power in the 21st century thus making Chindia the combination of China and India the biggest economic power in the region and making the Indian Ocean the 21st century ocean with a hive of economic activities.

Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma

Prof: Ranjith Senaratne

Sri Lanka, as an island nation which has transformed as an emerging country in Asia, should be ready to take advantage of this situation to recap what it has lost during the three-decade battle against terrorism allowing the other Asian nations which were far behind Sri Lanka to reach new heights in economic growth.

President Mahinda Rajapksa as a visionary leader, laid a strong foundation for Sri Lanka to gain from this economic power shifting to the Asian region after directing the country towards a new economic path setting the targets to make Sri Lanka a naval and logistic, energy, tourism and sports hub through the Mahinda Chinthana program.

In the process of transforming Sri Lanka into these hubs it initiated the process of transforming its economy from a Green Economy to a Blue Ocean Economy as President Rajapaksa stated the future of the country lies in the ocean. In the march to transform Sri Lanka's economy into a Blue Ocean economy, Sri Lanka took a step forward on August 20 by passing a Bill in the Parliament to set up the Ocean University of Sri Lanka.

According to Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma who presented the Bill the establishment of the Ocean University was yet another step forward by President Rajapaksa who initiated the facilitation of ocean economy when holding the ministerial portfolio of Fisheries in 1997 to broaden the opportunities for education in the field of fisheries and maritime industry by proposing the National Institute of Fisheries and Naval Engineering (NIFNE).

The government bestowed the Ocean University to the nation to further enhance the opportunities for the young generation to enhancing their education on scientific, technical and managerial skills in the fields of fisheries, maritime sciences, maritime technologies and allied fields, the Minister said presenting the Bill for approval in the House.

Professor Ranjith Senaratne, the Chairman of the Ocean University and Deputy Chairman of the University Grants Commission, the mandate of the Ocean University is to produce the trained manpower or to develop the workforce required when making Sri Lanka a logistic and naval hub.

"The vision of the President will become a reality only when we are having the required manpower. The Ocean University will facilitate to provide necessary man power at vocational, craft, technical, security management and scientific level to maintain these hubs", he added.

"To make Sri Lanka a logistic and naval hub we need to provide ships coming to Sri Lanka repairing, maintenance and overhauling facilities. To provide these services we need to have technically competent people.

The Ocean University produce technically competent people to provide these services to the ships", he added.

Apart from this as a country which inherits a sea area eight times of its land mass and with the potential of claiming a sea area 23 times of its land mass under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Sri Lanka also should equip with necessary manpower to make use of the full potential of the sea for future prosperity.

"The Blue Economy, a new initiative pioneered by the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) conceptualising oceans and 'development spaces' is also relevant to all coastal states and countries with an interest in waters beyond national jurisdiction. As an island nation Sri Lanka also can turn its economy into a Blue Economy making use the technically and scientifically competent people of the Ocean University", he said.

There are so many potential areas Sri Lanka can embarked on making use of its sea for future prosperity and the relevant man power for these industries is a key requirement for those development initiatives.

"For instance we can develop our country into a maritime sports hub making use of 1750 km unpolluted coastal belt as we have year round summer with sun and sea", he added.

"To mine the sea bed for valuable minerals like copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, sulphur etc we need manpower and the Ocean University is geared to produce competent people for this task", Prof. Senaratne added.

Marine bioprospecting- the search for novel compounds from natural sources in the marine environment has rapidly increased in recent years.

Much of the increase in activity may be attributed to technological advances in exploring the ocean. Today about 18,000 natural products have been reported from marine organisms belonging to around 4,800 species.

"These marine natural products are used for pharmaceutical, nutritional and personal care markets. For instance many anti -cancer and cosmetic drugs are being producing from marine organisms. Sri Lanka also can make use of its rich marine bio-diversity for these industries once we produce experts on this field through the Ocean University", he added.

"With the increasing population in the world which will grow at least to 20 billion by 2020 we need to find new ways to producing foods. The sea will be a prime source for food in future and we need to equip ourselves to meet this challenge in the future by finding scientific ways for sea farming and sea cultivation by producing experts on this field through the Ocean University", he added.

Since Sri Lanka is close to the Silk Route there are lot of ship wrecks scattered around the Indian ocean and they can be made use to promote marine archaeology.

"We can start courses to promote marine archaeology in our University after linking with an other university in the world may be in China, Japan in promoting those courses and attract students to study marine archaeology", he added.

"The Ocean University will teach all these subjects the fisheries and aquaculture under one roof. This will also teach ship building ship repairing and maintenance and aquaculture, sea farming, sea sports, mining of sea bed, marine archaeology, maritime law", he added.

Therefore, the Ocean University will offer vocational courses from certificate level to diploma level and degree programs to produce competent people to manage and maintain them after providing them with managerial, technical and scientific knowledge.

The ocean University will offer vocational courses on Off-shore Fishing, Skipper Training, Safety at Sea, Life Saving and Diving, Sea Sports and Maritime Recreation, Post Harvest Technology, Fisheries Harbour Management, Aquaculture and Mariculture, Nautical Science, Off-shore Exploration and Production of Gas and Oil, Marine Pollution, Fibre Glass Technology, Maritime Heritage and Ecotourism, Maritime Transportation, Management and Logistics, Maritime Security, Disaster Management and Coastal and Marine Resources Management.

The degree programs scheduled under the University are Naval Architecture, Maritime Transportation Management and Logistics, Integrated Coastal and Marine Resources Management, Applied Maritime Sports Science and Technology, Nautical Science, Port and Harbour Management, Petroleum Science and Petroleum Engineering.

The enrollment of students for the Certificate and Diploma Courses will be increased from 460 in 2014 to 1535 by the year 2017. The enrollment of students for the degree programs will be increased from 300 in the year 2014 to 615 in the 2017.

Since the University has been established under Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry youth will have easy access to these vocational training and degree programs thus providing opportunities for them to be qualified for the emerging job market in the future.

He said the Indian Ocean Rim Association with 20 member countries including India, China, Australia is also proposing to establish Centre of Excellence in ocean Sciences and Atmosphere Studies in Sri Lanka on request made by External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L.Peiris.

"The Ocean University provides the ideal platform, the infrastructural and Academic and intellectual atmosphere for this centre", Prof. Senaratne added.

"We have been given 45 acres of land in Kalametiya in Hambantota for the development of this University and Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma is negotiating with several countries to get financial assistance to this. By another three years time we will have a state-of-the art Ocean University equipped with a laboratory and workshop facilities and to produce man power in the emerging sectors not only fishing in aqua culture, offshore drilling, off shore exploration, sea bed mining, marine bio-prospecting maritime recreation sea sports, marine archaeology, ship-building or anything", he added.

"Therefore, the Ocean University will not only become a partner and catalyst in transforming Sri Lanka into a logistic and tourism hub, but it will also become a global leader in training and educating the people in social sciences and allied fields and will help Sri Lanka to emerge as a global leader in Education, Training and Research in Fisheries and Marine Science and Technology", he added.