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9.8 million worth rewards for raids against illegal fishing in arrears
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
The Fisheries Reward Fund (FRF), established with the aim of encouraging officials and informants involved in raids against illegal fishing activities, has not achieved its stated purpose, with more than Rs. 9.8 million yet to be disbursed from the Fund as cash rewards, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
The FRF, under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, was established in terms of Section 59 of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act No. 02 of 1996. According to Section 51 (4), the proceeds realised from the auction of items and fish confiscated by the court for engaging in illegal fishing activities are credited to this Fund.
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Officials participating in the raids, officials participating in the court proceedings and the individuals who provide information are paid 75 per cent of the auction amount subject to a maximum of Rs. 500, 000 per person while the remaining 25 per cent goes to the State.
The NAO’s observations into the FRF’s Performance Report for 2023, which was recently tabled in Parliament, paints a bleak picture of the Fund’s situation. As per the NAO’s findings, following are the number of court cases with regard to illegal fishing activities filed over the past nine years: 2015 – 348, 2016 – 488, 2017 – 427, 2018 – 327, 2019 – 604, 2020 – 536, 2021 – 692, 2022 – 293, 2023 – 719.
However, no cash rewards were awarded at all to officials who conducted raids in 2017, 2018 and 2020. Of the 719 cases filed in 2023, only officials involved in three cases were awarded cash rewards amounting to Rs. 250, 165. The NAO has observed that more than Rs. 9.8 million in cash rewards due to officials involved in raids over the years had not been awarded. “The failure to device a mechanism to speedily award cash rewards due to officials means they are not being encouraged to conduct raids targeting illegal fishing activities,” it has noted.
More than Rs. 2.7 million should have been received from the sale of confiscated fisheries stocks by December 31, 2023. Some Rs. 1.8 million of this amount was from the sale of fisheries stocks during previous years. Only Rs. 580, 187 was deposited with the Fund from the sale of confiscated fisheries stocks in 2023. None of the monies which were in arrears was deposited with the Fund during the year of auditing. The NAO therefore, observed that the efforts made towards recovering the arrears appear to be weak.
Though 719 cases were filed through district Fisheries offices in 2023, only four of these had reported that money earned from the sale of confiscated items had been deposited with the FRF. The other 12 Fisheries offices had not produced records on this matter for audit.
District Fisheries Offices had not taken steps to obtain details from the legal officer of the head office about the cases filed by their respective offices and update their records with regard to these cases. The Fisheries Department’s Investigation Division meanwhile, had not taken action to brief district Fisheries offices about the monies deposited with the courts with regard to cases that have concluded and to get those funds transferred to the head office.
When taking action against illegal fishing, instances where the Navy makes arrests, names of officials who launch raids based on tip-offs as well as the names of officials at district Fisheries offices who conduct search operations must all be documented. While the correct procedure is for all names to be properly documented so that they can be easily identified in order to speedily award them the reward money, this had not been done. Nor had any efforts been taken to encourage the public to provide information by apprising them of the cash rewards on offer.
Given this situation, though the entire purpose for the establishment of the FRF was to encourage officials to engage in raids to disrupt illegal fishing activities and encourage informants to provide information, this objective is not being achieved, the NAO has concluded.
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