A maiden plunge

Lanka’s first-ever Faculty of Marine Sciences opens at Ruhuna University this week

November 8 will be a significant day not only for the University of Ruhuna but also for the whole university system in Sri Lanka, when the first-ever Faculty of Fisheries & Marine Sciences & Technology is ceremonially inaugurated.

The first batch of 60 undergraduates will commence the B.Sc. Degree programme in Fisheries & Marine Sciences on November 9.

This is the first step towards the establishment of a higher education institute for fisheries & marine sciences & technology, within the higher education system in Sri Lanka. “Although Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean, not much emphasis had been given in the past, for the development of primary, secondary and tertiary education in the fields of fisheries and marine sciences. Not much scientific explorations of the sea and about its living and non-living resources, have been launched in the past by Sri Lankans, due to the lack of well-equipped research institutes and qualified scientists with formal training to handle important marine research,” said the first Dean of the Faculty of Fisheries & Marine Sciences & Technology, Prof. Ruchira Cumaranatunga.

The University of Ruhuna was able to introduce this much needed Faculty of Fisheries & Marine Sciences & Technology, to the university system primarily due to the farsighted vision and the mission of its pioneers and due to the hard-work of the dedicated staff of the Dept. of Fisheries Biology, with the fullest cooperation of Vice Chancellor, Professor Ranjith Senaratne,” she explained.
The location of the University of Ruhuna, facing the Indian Ocean and its close proximity to the two fishery harbours, Dondra and Mirissa, also supported this mission. The faculty, although established with effect from January 1, 2005, through a gazette notification in October 2005 under then President Chandrika Kumaratunga, could not commence its activities until certain basic requirements were acquired.

The Dean commended the efforts of many towards the establishment of the faculty, particularly Professor Sena S. De Silva, who was the first Professor of Zoology, “who took great pains to introduce Fisheries Sciences to the zoology curriculum at the University of Ruhuna. It is not wrong to consider him as the Father of Fisheries Sciences at University of Ruhuna”.

The dream of establishing a Faculty for Fisheries & Marine Sciences & Technology, would not have become a reality, if not for the financial assistance given through Coastal Ecology and Marine Sciences Programmes of the SIDA/SAREC of Sweden, Prof. Cumaranatunga explained.

The Faculty has three Departments – Fisheries & Aquaculture, Oceanography & Marine Geology and Limnology.