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| Sunday, 4 January 2004 |
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Tuna catch on the rise Sri Lanka's haul of tuna fish is on the ascent, having reached 93,070 tonnes during 2002, from 19,000 tonnes in 1995, it was revealed at a workshop conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and INFOFISH in Colombo recently. The workshop focused on the needs and expectations of five INFOFISH countries, Maldives, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and Iran. The three-day workshop had the participation of 50 delegates and resource persons from 12 countries. The Indian Ocean accounted for over 20 per cent of the global tuna catch of 3.7 million tonnes in 2002. Earlier, the Indian Ocean's share of tuna was less than 200,000 tonnes, this increased sharply in the early 1980s when French and Spanish purse-seiners transferred their fishing operations from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, INFOFISH, Director, Dr S. Subasinghe, who is resident in Malaysia, said. This resulted in a gradual increase in yellowfin and skipjack tuna catches till the mid-90s, after which, they have remained somewhat static, he added. The workshop emphasised on the growing need in many Asia Pacific countries to strengthen the capability of domestic fleets to engage in tuna fishing. Special emphasis was laid on tuna longlining as this type of fishing gives a product which fetches higher prices in the export market. It was revealed that many countries in the Pacific and Caribbean regions have modified small and medium-sized boats successfully to land quality tuna for export processing of high value products. Sri Lanka's products are also exported to the European Union (EU). According to INFOFISH, the EU market shows an annual growth of 14 per cent for fresh tuna loin. Sri Lanka supplements some of its exports to the EU with imports from the Maldives, Chairman, Export Development Board, Ratna Sivaratnam said. Minister of Enterprise Development, Prof G.L. Peiris said the Ministry of Fisheries is formulating a plan for the sustainable development of fisheries resources. Annually, around 300,000 tonnes of fish are caught. One of the main obstacles for the fisheries industry is the inadequate number of fisheries harbours. The Government is planning to build several fishing harbours in the Southern and Eastern Provinces, Prof Peiris said. Many other measures must be taken to strengthen the industry's domestic capacity to exploit offshore resources such as upgrading the fishing fleet, quality improvement of catch and minimising post-harvest losses. (EL) |
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