ETCA will not impact local fishing industry - Fisheries Minister

by Rohana Jayalal

The proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) will not impact the local fishing industry, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister, Mahinda Amaraweera told Sunday Observer Business.

“However, we are vigilant to see that there are no loopholes in the agreement which might affect the fishery industry. The Government is keen to have talks with its Indian counterparts to seek a permanent solution to the fishing issue.

The Minister said with the recent visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, India and Sri Lanka agreed to find an innovative and lasting solution to the fishermen’s issue.

“I will travel to India to hold talks to resolve the fishermen’s issue. “Today there are 104 Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lankan custody and 500 more could be arrested if the Navy carries out my order to arrest at least 500 a month after Thai Pongal,” he said.

Although the fishermen’s associations of the two sides are in regular contact with each other, they could not reach a mutually-acceptable solution to resolve this problem.

India maintains that the fishermen’s issue has socio-economic, livelihood and humanitarian dimensions and wants a long term solution to the problem.

Amaraweera said that a great expectation for the fisheries industry in the country has been met with the construction of the first marine finfish hatchery in Sri Lanka. The construction of this hatchery will boost the industry and create employment opportunities in the Batticaloa district.

The Minister thanked the European Union for providing funds for the construction of the marine finfish hatchery and the FAO for implementing the project.According to the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation, Sri Lanka has incurred a loss of Rs. 360 million annually due to the European fishing ban, the Minister said.Sri Lanka had suffered the loss from January 2015 to date and is looking forward to a favourable response from the European Parliament by mid this year, the Minister said.

He said they have installed Vessel Monitoring Systems in vessels in international waters to check fishing in prohibited areas.

We have invited local businessmen to invest in new ships that use modern technology.

The European Union Council last month encouraged Sri Lanka to take further measures to address the shortcomings in the context of the EU legislation on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Sri Lanka received a ‘yellow card’ or a strict warning in November 2012 before the ban was imposed, as the country was not complying with international rules on illegal fishing.

In future, fisheries harbours will be constructed under the concept of ‘Green Harbour’ and the standards of all other fisheries harbours will be upgraded, Amaraweera said.“We are also considering lagoon development as we have 116 lagoons. It will at the same time be a great help to increase fish breeding, Amaraweera said.“We hope to develop the inland fishery industry and double that harvest within the next two years, the Minister said.

He said the government will never let any foreign vessel fish under the Sri Lankan flag in the country’s territorial waters.Amaraweera said that we have space to send 1,615 fishing boats to international waters for fishing under our National Flag.

“We have already sent 1,540 boats and still have space to send another 75.“We invite local and foreign investors willing to invest in Sri Lankan fisheries sectors to make their investments with them,” he said.