Despite consumers facing exceedingly high prices for fish, fishermen lament that the prices are a result of the economic crash that led to high fuel prices, among other increased production costs, while the Fisheries Ministry states that it has requested fuel concessions for the fisheries sector.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, All-Island General Fisheries Federation National Organiser Rathna Gamage said that fishermen were facing challenges from all corners: “We have to deal with high fuel prices, high prices of ice which we use for storage, and other fisheries equipment.”
He highlighted that while the price of ice had increased threefold since the crash of the economy in 2022, equipment used by fishermen had also increased in price as they were mostly supplied through imports.
“There was a protest by multi-day fishermen in Mirissa last week highlighting these issues,” said Gamage.
National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation (NAFSO) National Coordinator Herman Kumara too highlighted that the situation had come to a point where they were observing some fishermen completely giving up fishing as they could no longer bear the expenses associated with it.
“Engines for boats are now really expensive too,” Kumara told The Sunday Morning. “There should be taxes but concessions should also be there for these industries,” he added.
Nutrient deficiencies
Fish is regarded as an important source of protein in the diet of many Sri Lankans, but high prices have driven even this nutrient further away from a majority of the public. Recent reports show a troubling situation of nutrient deficiencies in the Sri Lankan public.
According to the World Food Programme’s latest statistics, 17% of the Sri Lankan population is facing moderate acute food insecurity, 31% of children under the age of five are malnourished, and 20% of children under the age of five suffer from wasting.
However, commenting on the high fish prices at present, Fisheries Ministry Secretary Kumari Somarathna said that it was mostly a seasonal effect due to the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.
“We have made requests to the Government to provide fuel concessions to the fisheries sector. All sectors across the board are facing high fuel prices, but the fisheries industry is directly impacted by it. We are also having discussions and the Government knows about the problem. We are hoping for a concession whenever possible,” she said.
Fish exports
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka also has a thriving fish export sector. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) external sector performance report in December 2023 notes that export earnings from seafood (primarily fresh fish) increased in 2023 due to higher export volumes. Fish and fish preparations exports had resulted in the country earning a total of $ 301.7 million.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka had spent a total of $ 80.5 million in 2023 to import fish – an 18.9% increase from the expenditure for fish imports in 2022 ($ 67.7 million). In this context, questions arise about whether fish is being exported out of the country at the cost of valuable nutrients being inaccessible to the Sri Lankan public.
However, Gamage said that fish exports were not high enough to affect local market prices, while Kumara said that Sri Lanka mainly exported yellowfin tuna – a product that was not targeted for the local market anyway. “Its export doesn’t affect local prices,” he said.
“The second largest export is prawns, but the exports mainly comprise cultured prawns, not wild ones. Again, cultured ones are not targeted for local markets. But it will definitely affect prawn prices in the local markets because when cultured ones get infected with white spot disease, they are dumped in the local markets, which has a certain impact on the market.
“The third largest fish export is sea cucumbers, which are mainly made for exports,” said Kumara, adding that Sri Lanka used to be a major exporter of shark fins but due to recent bans and restrictions on the products, this had reduced considerably. “That used to be one of the highest earners.”
He alleged that imports were high due to a “business mafia” that existed within the sector: “We import even small fish and that is not because we don’t have enough fish in our waters but because of the existing business mafia, which we believe leads to high commissions for all those engaged in the value chain.”
He further said that the local fish market was not thriving as necessary facilities were not being provided properly to fishermen. “We need facilities for food preservation, transportation, fish processing, and handling along with good knowledge and technology.”
Despite this, the Export Development Board (EDB) told The Sunday Morning that Sri Lanka had exported about 20,000,000 kg of edible fish products on a yearly basis from 2020 to 2023 (see Figure 1). Thus far in 2024, Sri Lanka has exported 3,878,447 kg of edible fish products leading to $ 43.69 million in earnings.
According to the EDB, Sri Lanka mainly exports fish to the US, Germany, Hong Kong, France, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, China, Japan, and Canada. The EDB recommends that post-harvest losses be reduced and inland fishing cultivation and supply be improved to prevent local fish prices from increasing.
Need for better laws
Meanwhile, Kumara also blamed the inefficient implementation of laws that had led to harmful practices such as bottom trawling in Sri Lankan waters, thus depleting fish resources around the island. He further raised concerns about new laws that were in the works.
“We question whether the Government is planning to open our seas to foreign fishermen as we have heard of plans to that effect through the new bill that will be brought in for the sector,” he said.
However, Somarathna denied that the bill would do this, stating that they saw no need to give Sri Lankan waters to foreign fishermen.
“A new bill is being brought in for the sector, but it is in the final stage. We have had stakeholder discussions, including with fishermen, and have incorporated their suggestions as well. It should be finalised within a month,” said Somarathna.
