by Commander Bhanu Abeygunawardhana
Published on The Ceylon Today on 09th August 2024.
The fisheries sector plays a significant role in the world providing food and numerous job opportunities. Importantly, Sri Lanka has the right to marine fishing within the 200 Nautical Miles (NM) width Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which covers 517,000 Km2. Also, the multiday fishing boat (IMUL) fleet of Sri Lanka has the right to fish on high seas beyond the country’s EEZ. In particular, the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) has indicated that about 583,000 individuals can find direct or indirect work in the fishing industry, supporting 2.7 million coastal populations in Sri Lanka. Significantly, the marine fishing sector contributes fulfilment of the annual protein requirement of the country by over 60%. Moreover, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has explained that 90% of the fishing catch of the country is used for local consumption. Indeed coastal and offshore/deep-sea fishing are part of the marine fisheries sector. It is understood that the marine fishing industry plays a pivotal role in health and food security in the country. Furthermore, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development (MFARD) Summary Statistics (2022) indicated there were 5088 numbers of offshore multiday fishing boats (IMUL) registered under the ministry. However, it is important to highlight that, as per the Fisheries Statistics Report 2022, published by the MFARD, the share of fisheries to the country’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP) at the current market price is only 1.1%. Indeed, as a coastal state even though it has a vast sea area, the contribution of the marine fishery sector to the country’s GDP is significantly weak when compared with other coastal states in the region such as India, Maldives, Bangladesh and Seashells.
It is important to highlight that, according to reports, the All Ceylon Multi-Day Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association said that about half of the island's multi-day fishing vessels had stopped fishing because of the high costs. Indeed, with that background, the already high fish prices will continue to increase further. On the other hand, the FAO has intimated that post-harvest losses in the Sri Lankan marine fishery sector are significantly 40% to 60% and it is very high. In addition, the poor practice of the post-harvest preservation system also directly affects the post-harvest losses of Sri Lankan fishermen. Furthermore, ice brought from shore for fish preservation becomes a major reason for post-harvest losses when stored for more than 7-8 days. In particular, once a fish is caught in the fish bait, its quality begins to deteriorate. Furthermore, as a tropical country average annual temperature of the country is 30 C0. Moreover, fish will begin to degrade while in the passage due to the high rate of melting ice in tropical regions. It is important to understand the consequences of the weakest deep-sea fishing industry. In particular, the stoppage of multi-day fishing vessels engaging in fishing because of the high costs and the post-harvest losses are leading to the increase the fish prices. Indeed, increasing fish prices cause to reduction majority of domestic fish consumption in the country due to financial factor. More specifically, a weaker marine fishing sector will badly affect to the health and food security since it contributes to 60 % protein requirement of the country while 90% consumption of fish harvest within the country. In addition, the weakest marine fishery sector shall create threats to the economic security making a socioeconomic issue when considering the huge population engages with the marine fishery sector.
In particular, post-harvest losses can be identified as one of the major factors leading to financial loss when examining why multi-day fishing vessels had stopped fishing because of the high costs of maintaining the boat and logistic supply for the fishing trip. For instance, time consumed for searching fishing grounds, travel distance and number of days spent at sea directly affect fuel consumption as well as post-harvest losses. More specifically, the present practice of finding fishing grounds are previous experience of the boat crew and sharing details by IMUL boats already deployed at sea. On the other hand, the long duration taken for the fishing trip and preserving harvest using ice beyond 7-8 days cause to reduction in the quality of the fish harvest. Indeed, the post-harvest losses and not finding a fishing ground to fulfil the quantity of required fish harvest to generate profit from a fishing trip create huge financial losses. In particular, if even one fishing trip couldn’t make a profit it will impact subsequent fishing trips. Indeed, loss of profit with a weaker financial status generates serious negative consequences within the fishing community due inability to fulfil fundamental needs including food, health and education. On the one hand, with the unavailability of profit from fishing trips, fishermen may leads attend illegal activities such as drug and human trafficking to generate income. Indeed, it will create a huge threat to the national security of the country.
Importantly, reducing the travel time, travelling distance and time spends for search fishing grounds can be done by introducing a simple, readily available, easy access and user-friendly fishing ground forecasting mechanism for the Sri Lankan marine fishing fleet. In particular, Sri Lankan multiday fishing boat average duration of a fishing trip is 14 to 21 days. Indeed, it is superseding the recommended period for fish harvest preservation using ice and it is vulnerable to post-harvest losses. Moreover, many intra and inter-regional coastal states are already conducting fishing ground forecasts and have improved the marine fishery sector significantly increasing the contribution to the GDP of the country as well.
For instance, Earth observation satellites provide Ocean currents, sea surface temperature, and chlorophyll dispersion which are used to analyse the fishing ground. Also, long-term fisheries and oceanographic data have been used in many countries to analyse the annual and seasonal distribution of fishing grounds. Importantly, potential fishing ground areas can be adequately predicted with the use of these research and satellite images. More specifically, an aid to locating possible fishing grounds using satellite-based fishing ground advice helps to cut down the time taken for fishing trips. Indeed eventually, it will boost business profits by increasing fish harvest while spending less time duration for the fishing trip. Importantly less time taken for a fishing trip will reduce the post-harvest losses, fuel consumption and logistic requirements while reducing the financial expenditure for one fishing trip.
In contrast, it has been found that fishing ground advisories are already issued by the NARA, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Also, this information is disseminated to fishers via email, social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and NARA website (www.nara.ac.lk). However, it was examined that the majority of the fishing community is not familiar with the aforementioned fishing ground forecast and does not access the information effectively to find fishing grounds.
Indeed due to not accessing the published information about available fishing grounds, IMUL boats spend time at sea to search fishing grounds and harvest the required fish quantity. More time spent at sea caused melt ice brought from the shore and finally, it led to post-harvest losses. Indeed, with that background introduction of systematic mechanisms to automatically reach the fishing ground forecast to fishermen including the fishing boats already deployed at sea must be required. In comparison to the other coastal states which are conducting the fishing ground forecasting, it could be done through Short Message Service (SMS) to the mobile phone in a more tangible way since almost every fishing boat owner and most of the boat crew members are using the mobile phone.
For instance, it is more tangible to introduce the fishing ground forecasting SMS service for mobile phones with the collaboration of mobile service providers as practices today for sending news alerts by various sources. In addition, it can introduce the main communication centres for communicating with IMUL fishing boats at sea to conduct broadcasting of fishing ground forecasts. Also, a mechanism should be established using the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) details to direct fishing vessels to the nearest fishing grounds. In addition, the improvement of sending fishing ground details for the IMUL boats deployed at sea as SMS via VMS must be enhanced since installing VMS in the IMUL boat is mandatory as per the high seas regulations of Sri Lanka. On the other hand, a dedicated High Frequency (HF) communication channel can be introduced for fishing ground forecasting specifically for IMUL boats deployed at sea. In addition, the development of mobile applications also can be introduced for fishing ground forecasting and other related fishing information sharing. Moreover, in collaboration with local Television and radio channels fishing ground forecasts must be published to the community awareness. Importantly, the enhancement of awareness about fishing ground forecasts within the fishing community must be carried out regularly by the responsible stakeholders.
More importantly, introducing of simple mechanism for forecasting fishing grounds' information reach to the fishing community on time will reduce the search time for fishing grounds and travel distance for fishing grounds. Indeed, it will directly affect logistics costs by lowering the time spent in the sea. Indeed, it will improve harvesting efficiency and will enable to reduction of post-harvest losses while reducing the duration of fish preservation in ice. Moreover, the fish forecast will increase the fish harvest with quality and subsequently fish exports increase the revenue from foreign exports which is very vulnerable for the country’s foreign income generation. Also, the stability of fish market prices attracts investors to the fishing industry and subsequently it will help to increase domestic fish consumption while reducing the fish prices in the local market. Moreover, when fishing trips become profitable fishing community will remain without engaging in illegal activities. Finally, it has been identified that adopting of simple mechanism empowering available systems along with technology for reaching fishing ground forecasting for the ground-level fishermen can improve the marine fishery sector of the country securing the national security in terms of food security, health security, economic security, human security and social security.
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* Commander Bhanu Abeygunawardena is a Military Research Officer at the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), the premier think tank on National Security established under the Ministry of Defence. The opinions expressed are his own and not necessarily reflective of the institute or the Ministry of Defence.