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Plans to allow spearfishing; experts warn of threat to spectacular marine beauty
Government plans to allow spearfishing or underwater hunting for tourists have raised fears that Sri Lanka’s stunning marine life, particularly around its world famous coral reefs, will be fished to extinction.
Spearfishing was banned in 2017 after it was found that the sport–practised the way it was in Sri Lanka using scuba gear or “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus”— had caused reefs to be decimated and localised extinction of various species. These include Napoleon wrasse, groupers and the beautiful parrot fish.
“It is easy to sit and shoot fish while you are on scuba,” pointed out Dharshana Jayawardena, an internationally renowned diver. Spearfishing could be sustainable if done without scuba, as part of breath-hold diving.
State Sports Minister Thenuka Vidanagamage recently told Parliament that his Ministry would notify the Fisheries Ministry and Navy to permit tourists to spearfish “without causing harm to protected species”.
This was after Parliamentarian Chandima Weerakkody, who represents the Galle District, claimed that a large number of tourists to areas like Habaraduwa, Dickwella, Weligama and the Eastern Coast were questioning why they could not engage in the “popular sport”.
Experts criticised the proposal as a “hugely backward step”. “A fish like a Napoleon wrasse, or a Grouper, which foreign divers love to see, can bring in thousands of times more revenue to the country while alive than as a dead fish at the end of a spear gun,” Mr Jayawardena said.
“Killing is not the type of tourism Sri Lanka should promote at a time when its seas are under threat by human activity and reef fish stocks are dwindling by the day,” he stressed.
In 2017, Mahinda Amaraweera—the then Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources who is now Environment Minister—issued a gazette prohibiting the use of spears in fishing operations. “No person shall use or possess, or have on board any local fishing boat, any spear gun,” it said “No person shall engage in any fishing operation using spear guns or hand held spears within Sri Lankan Waters”.
Even this did not go far enough because it had failed to ban the import and possession of spear guns, said Dr Malik Fernando, a marine naturalist and key mover against spearfishing. This meant hunters, including tourists, continued to bring in and keep guns, surreptitiously using them.
But activists barely had time to campaign for a total ban—representations were made to the Ministry of Defence for prohibition under the Offensive Weapons Act—before these new moves to reverse the progress.
“The problem is that, going back to the late 1980s onwards, people were using scuba gear,” said Dr Fernando. “Spearfishing changed from being a sport to a commercial operation that resulted in the killing of lots of the spectacular, very large fish.”
“This reduced the visual impact of the underwater world for divers while there were also dive stations promoting spearfishing for foreigners, mostly targeting colourful reef fish in shallow waters, the sort that average divers and snorkelers would be able to go out and look at,” he said.
Tourists would spear these fish and barbecue them. The Sri Lanka Sub-Aqua Club were among the first to see that, way it was going, reefs were rapidly depleting.
Dr Malik likened what was happening to “open season” in the 30s and 40s, when people went out in droves and hunted for duck, snipe, deer, hare, wild boar and other animals. That led the Government to outlaw sport hunting in the 1960s. It was replaced by the much more sustainable wildlife tourism that Sri Lanka is known for the world over.
“We should promote this same attitude underwater,” Dr Fernando said. “We should promote dives for the visual aspect—our marine life and our shipwrecks—for people to view and photograph rather than for killing fish, where our reefs would be devoid of fish life.”
Repealing the gazette will be a poor reflection on the country, undoing environmental progress.
| THASL says it opposes the move The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) has strongly opposed moves to legalise spearfishing in the country saying the move would hurt the tourism industry. In a statement, the THASL said it is strongly opposed to the suggestion, noting that the country’s tourism industry has also expressed its vehement opposition to this proposal. “We welcome Sports Minister Hon Namal Rajapakshe’s Twitter message rejecting this proposal. We also note that the Minister of Fisheries, under whose purview this matter falls, has clearly stated that this proposal does not find favour.” The THASL said it is distancing itself firmly from the initiative, which it regarded as entirely inappropriate. Meanwhile Mr Rajapaksa in a twitter message said the question of legalising spearfishing in Sri Lanka has been directed to his ministry, but no decision has been taken as yet. “The legalisation of spearfishing has to be addressed by the Ministry of Fisheries”, he added. | |