The fisheries sector has contributed 2.4 percent to Sri Lanka's Gross Domestic Product in 2002, said Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion and Constitutional Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris.
Speaking at a workshop on the introduction of improved long-lining Techniques for tuna fishing, he said fish production increased by 5.8 percent 2002 over the previous year. "This increase is attributed to the increase in fishing activities in the Northern and Eastern Coastal areas with the cessation of hostilities and signing of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE," the Minister said.
The workshop was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and INFOFISH of the Global Fishery Information Network, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (SLEDB). It was held at Trans Asia Hotel recently.
INFOFISH, Director Dr.S. Subasinghe said tuna, which accounts for nearly nine percent by value of the global trade in fish and fishery products, is also fast becoming a species of special economic interest to many countries bordering the Western Indian Ocean. "Fishery is of special interest to many countries in terms of food security, employment creation as well as income generation, especially in the catch sector and export-processing.
It is mainly for these reasons that the INFOFISH Governing Council decided to seek FAO cooperation and support for an event of this nature at its 17th meeting held in Kuala Lumpur in December 2002," he said.
The workshop is expected to lead to a regional project on the broad topic of mobilizing small-medium scale vessels for tuna long-lining and related improvements to gear/vessel design. Countries participating in the workshop are Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Iran, all bordering the Western Indian Oceanic waters.
Tuna enjoys a very good export market as sashimi tuna. Sri Lanka's production is not enough to cater to the growing market for quality tuna abroad. According to INFOFISH, the EU market shows an annual growth of about 14 percent for fresh tuna loins. Sri Lanka supplements its tuna exports to some extent with imports from Maldives.
There is growing emphasis in many countries in the Asia-Pacific on strengthening the capability of domestic fleets to engage in tuna fishing. Special emphasis is laid on tuna long-lining as this type of fishery gives a product, which is of a better quality.
Quality of tuna landed is very important if the product is to be exported as sashimi or loins, fetching anything from US$ 5-25/kg depending on the quality and market.
However, Sri Lanka tuna landings have shown a steady growth from nearly 19,000mt in 1995 reaching a total of 93,070mt in 2002. The volume of tuna exports too has shown a significant increase during the period from 160mt in 1995 to 852mt in 2002. During the last three years exports have grown from 545mt valued at US$ 1.61 million in 2000 to around 852mt valued at US$ 4.0 million in 2002. According to INFOFISH, the workshop would draw resource persons from FAO, Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Secretariat of The Pacific Community (SPC), Fiji, Grenada, Indonesia and INFOFISH.
Latter is the Asia-Pacific office of FAO's Fisheries Information Network, with Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. INFOFISH will also be holding a major global tuna industry event, TUNA Bangkok 2004 from 3-5 June 2004, which is supported by atuna.com.