Sri Lanka’s fisheries resources are badly managed
Throughout in the past and now, one fourth or 25 per cent of all fish produced in Sri Lanka goes waste due to a lack of proper cold storage facilities, according to Vijitha Herath, Propaganda Secretary, Central Committee Member, JVP and Gampaha District MP.
Speaking at the occasion of electing office bearers to the All Island Fisheries Federation, Gampaha District held in Negombo last Sunday, he said that this has resulted in a huge loss to the country.
Discussing the new Tax Bill, he warned that there every person who earns more than Rs. 600,000 per year or Rs. 50,000 per month would be taxed irrespective of whether they are fishermen or farmers and even all religious organisations would come within this tax net.
He said that Sri Lanka’s fishing resources – the sea around the island – is nine time larger than the land mass of the country and if that resource is properly developed it could generate more revenue than all the development activities put together.
Mr. Herath said that while the ‘so-called’ Yahapalanaya Government claims that the EU lifting of the ban on fish exports would boost exports, there is massive import of fish products – fish, lobsters, sprats and dried fish – which is rising. The reality is that there isn’t enough fish to export.
He alleged that the reason for the EU ban on Sri Lanka fish exports was not due to any human rights issues (during the conflict) but connected to the existence of a ‘fish export’ ring where a former Fisheries Minister along with some ‘friends’ had been exporting fish bought from foreign ships, camouflaging them as fish caught from the Sri Lankan waters.
He pointed out that in 2012, Rs. 27,089 million was spent to import fish and today a sum of Rs. 34,130 million is spent to import fish products. He said that the truth about selling the national wealth like ports, airports, expressways is that when the government could not muster sufficient income to at least meet essential expenditure, it does not have any option other than selling these national assets.
About the Colombo Financial City (Port City), Mr. Herath said that the earlier government started it and while politicians of the present regime came in to power promising to stop it, have continued the project and now prepared a scheme to compensate those fishermen who would be affected and lose their livelihood. But the scheme is still not implemented, he indicated.
He said that according to a survey they have carried out a large number of fishermen are affected by the Port City and so far neither compensation nor any kind of assistance is given to them. As a party, the JVP would campaign strongly to compel the government to pay some kind of compensation for these affected people to live on.