Making Lanka a maritime hub of S. Asia

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Sri Lanka possesses a sea area 21 times bigger than its land area with territorial waters of 21,770 square kilometres. While the maritime economic zone is 465,800 square kilometres. Sri Lanka is located in a unique geographical centre of shipping routes and nautical traffic. Its central location make the waters in its vicinity a hub of illegal maritime activities as well. The post-conflict peace has created an environment conducive to develop maritime activities.

"With maritime activities in ascendency more people are attracted to the sea and more vessels to our harbours for trade. Consequently safety and security becomes a serious concern and there should be policemen to control the sea traffic," said Sri Lanka Coast Guards Director General Rear Admiral Daya Dharmapriya explaining the heavy load of responsibilities the Sri Lanka Coast Guards will shoulder in the future.

It will be the task of the Sri Lanka Coast Guards to maintain law and order in our territorial waters. The Coast Guard Act No. 41 of 2009 enacted by the Parliament on a Cabinet paper presented by President Mahinda Rajapaksa incorporated the Department of Coast Guards. The department will assist in counter smuggling operations, illegal fishing, identify piracy, and curb human trafficking. "We have called upon the UN to grant us the right to expand Sri Lanka's maritime boundaries by 20-fold with much hope", said President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the launch of the Sri Lanka Coast Guards at the Galle Harbour. Being an island nation sea is our biggest asset and at present moves are afoot to explore underwater resources.

"The sea bed is rich in a variety of natural resources and Sri Lanka, in the future, needs to explore its potential. So keeping this safe, secure and pollution-free is very important," Rear Admiral Dharmapriya said.

Sri Lanka Coast Guards

Sri Lanka Coast Guards is a non-military law enforcement agency at sea and the officers are designated as Peace Officers. They are empowered with legal authority to search and arrest ships, crafts and persons engaged in illegal activities in maritime zones and territorial waters. Human trafficking issues have been particularly straining Sri Lanka's relations with countries such as Italy, Indonesia, and Australia as migrants attempt to enter their soil illegally. The Coast Guard will have the ability to stop, check, search, arrest, and prosecute individuals engaging in illegal activities within the Sri Lankan nautical boundaries.

In addition to its responsibility of nabbing illegal pursuits, the Coast Guard will respond to calls on lost ships by conducting search and rescue operations.

Sri Lanka's area for such enterprises is 10 times the size of the country. Before the Coast Guards were established there were number of instances on human smuggling in Sri Lankan waters. Once a vessel smuggling people from Cox's bazzar in Bangladesh to Australia was abandoned in our waters due to engine trouble. "Initially it was suspected to be a LTTE ship during the height of the war. Following close surveillance 21 people were found being illegally transported to Australia. By then 12 had died and corpses were thrown over board," Rear Admiral Dharmapriya said. Although the Sri Lanka Navy had to be deployed it could not take legal action against such illegal activities. Coast Guards have been empowered to ensure the security, safety and cleanliness of the maritime environment by limiting pollution and dealing with environmental crises such as oil spills.

Oil spill risks

In 2006 a ship sailing in our waters experienced an oil leak causing damage to the marine fauna and flora. "We had to seek assistance from the Indian Coast Guards to clear the polluted environment," Rear Admiral Dharmapriya said. This year another ship carrying sulphuric acid, named Granma, coming from Tuticorin in India broke down in the seas off Trincomalee and the sulphuric acid started leaking into the sea.

"The ship tried to sail into Trincomalee harbour but due to the hazardous state of the ship we instructed the ship authorities to take the ship away from Sri Lankan shores. We managed to move the ship to deep sea.

Later the ship sank," the Director General said. "When such accidents happen, the Coast Guards will be the lawful authority in any country to take action as we have to deal with civilians, not the military personnel," he explained.

Sri Lanka did not have a proper Coast Guard Department earlier. President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the then Minister of Fisheries established the Fisheries Coast Guards which was not a full fledged body with legal authority.

Its main focus was protecting the fishermen. The Coast Guards Department was also set up on a concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. According to the Director General of Coast Guards today Sri Lanka has about 22,000 fishing boats and trawlers and another 8,000 multi-day fishing trawlers.

"Maritime traffic is at the highest in Dondra Point and a special traffic separation zone was established many years ago. Just like the Traffic Police the Coast Guards control maritime traffic," he added. According to the Traffic Separation Zone rules, ships travelling towards the west from Dondra should sail eight nautical miles away from the land and ships to east, 12 nautical miles.

With the development of the harbours in Colombo south, Galle, Hambanthota and Oluvil the maritime traffic will be heavier.

Pollution free

"Sea is not a place to dump garbage. It need to be protected," Rear Admiral Dharmapriya emphasised.

"The sea being an asset to us there are number of future potentials such as research on oceanography, setting up offshore airports and factories etc. With the growth of the industrial sector in Sri Lanka maritime industries too will increased. "Even Norochcholai power plant has a share in maritime industry as the coal will be brought by sea and transferred to the power generating plant.

Sri Lanka Coast Guards is in its infancy. "We have a five year plan to develop our force into a full fledged Coast Guard unit," Rear Admiral Dharmapriya said. The bilateral relations with foreign counterparts are important. Our immediate neighbour India has one of the world's best Coast Guards. Established in 1978 and today the Indian Coast Guards have a large number of ships, vessels, hovercrafts and all equipment.

The recent visit of the Indian Coast Guards led by Inspector General V.S.R. Murthy, is very important in strengthening bilateral ties. Murthy visited the Coast Guard units at Colombo and Mirissa and the other strategic locations the Coast Guards will be established in the immediate future.

A new life saving unit has been set up at the Galle Face beach by the Department of Coast Guards which intends to launch life saving units around the island in the future. The first life saving unit was established in Mirissa in Matara.The Mahinda Chinthana - the vision for tomorrow envisages the development of maritime activities and the efficient management of all maritime resources.

The Sri Lanka Coast Guards are called upon to play a significant role in restoring the past glory of the country making it the maritime hub of South Asia.