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Big fishing deals with Asian countries
The Government is offering Sri Lanka’s fisheries harbours to foreign vessels from Asian countries, including China, in a fresh bid to prevent European countries from exploiting fishing resources in the Indian Ocean.Under the plan, fishing vessels from China, Dubai, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam will be invited to engage in fishing in the international waters in the Indian Ocean and export their products via the fisheries harbours in Sri Lanka, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.
About 20 Chinese and eight Japanese fishing vessels have already been offered the facility while talks are underway with Dubai to offer these facilities. Discussions with other countries will follow. “They will be operating under the Sri Lankan flag and will process the fish for exports in local harbours. Sri Lanka will benefit by imposing port charges and export taxes,” he explained. The minister said that at present 48 per cent of the fishing resources in the Indian Ocean was exploited by non-Asian countries, mainly European Union member countries.
He said these fishing vessels were known to net about 900 tons of fish and were well equipped while the Sri Lanka fishing vessels had a capacity to net only about 50 tons. He said the new fishing deals would be on a joint venture basis.The minister said a proposal by the EU countries to impose a quota for countries in the Indian Ocean was shot down by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission. He said the proposal was likely to be reintroduced.