President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that all necessary steps should be taken to increase fish production so that the protein intake of the people could be augmented. Addressing the senior officials of the Ministry of Fisheries at Temple Trees today (July 15) he emphasised that all development plans must be made to ensure that the interests of both consumers and fishermen are well protected.

The President also emphasised that the Fisheries Corporation should reduce the price of fish as it would have an immediate impact on the market, resulting in a healthy control of fish price. The Ministry should also focus its research on aspects of industry prevailing in the country, he said. He added that due focus must be given to increase the inland fisheries as the masses prefer inland fish to sea fish.

Presenting a comprehensive report on the current status of the fishing industry, Fisheries Minister Dr Rajita Senaratne said that his Ministry aims to double fish production from the current level of 339,000 metric tonnes to 690,000 metric tonnes so that the fish intake per capita could be increased from the current level of 37 grams per person per day to 60 grams per person per day.

The Minister said the number of sales outlets of the Fisheries Corporation would be doubled within a short period of time. He said there are 155,000 fishermen in the country and this number would increase as more and more fishermen in the north and east are starting to return to this livelihood.

Minister Senaratne said more fishing trawlers will be added to the existing fleet and few mother vessels will be placed around the country to supply fuel and other requirements of fishermen off-shore, so that the trawlers could spend a longer period in the ocean without returning to harbour for supplies.

The Ministry also plans to introduce pension and insurance schemes for fishermen, and they will also be provided with additional benefits such as soft loans.

Minister Senaratne said that the Ministry would establish a new Vessel Monitoring System via satellite to provide fishermen with data on identified areas of fish catch. The VMS system will also be capable of fleet monitoring, identifying illegal human smuggling vessels and any vessels intruding into Sri Lanka's maritime zone.