News

News

UK’s APPG helping to fish in troubled waters
From Neville de Silva in London
Sri Lanka's tsunami-ravaged fishing industry is to get a boost from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka in the British House of Commons. Members of the group will initiate a fund-raising campaign, possibly in each of the parliamentary constituencies, to enable every seat to collect enough money to buy a catamaran or perhaps a fishing trawler to replace those destroyed.

The fund-raiser, initiated by Anthony Steen MP, was launched at the House of Commons last week in the presence of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw and Sri Lanka's High Commissioner Faisz Musthapha.

If the campaign proves successful Sri Lanka's existing fishing fleet could well be supplemented by around 450-500 boats. At the launch, a soup made of tuna fish specially flown over from Sri Lanka was served to the parliamentarians, guests and the media. Anthony Steen has also managed to gain the assistance of the corporate sector to encourage the import of Sri Lankan fish. David North, director corporate affairs of a major supermarket chain Tesco told the gathering that they hoped to import more fish from Sri Lanka to help the struggling industry.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was encouraged by the initiative taken by the All-Party Parliamentary Group and promised to extend any help. Also present at the launch was Geoffrey Dobbs, a Briton living in Hong Kong with business interests in Sri Lanka. He flew over specially for the launch.

Top

Back to News