Last month, Sri Lanka joined in marking the World Hydrography Day (falls on 21 June), with the National Hydrographic Council (NHC) and the National Hydrographic Office taking a lead in the matter.
Hydrography and ocean sciences have long been a neglected area of study and regulation in Sri Lanka, with land loving policymakers conveniently overlooking the fact that Sri Lanka is an island and has an ocean domain rich in resources that is several times bigger in size, than of our land mass. It is heartening to see the status quo changing. The events of the last decade and evolving nature of the global geopolitical landscape, has pushed the Sri Lankan government to pay serious attention to the ocean around it. Better late than never.
Sri Lanka has been steadily pushing to recalibrate its ocean sciences and underwater domain awareness capacity since 2022. Due to several controversies over the control of data derived from hydrographic surveys conducted over the last few years, the Government decided to establish the National Hydrographic Office (SLNHO) at the Welisara Naval Complex in December 2023, placing it under the purview of the Ministry of Defence. Both the SLNHO and the NHC were established after the Government reviewed the outdated Legislature of hydrography, and enacted the National Hydrographic Act last year. This marked a significant departure from the civilian agencies, which early had control over (or lack of such) hydrographic survey data, especially ones which had been gained through joint research with a number of Chinese survey ships over the last decade. India, the United States and several other countries had expressed their concerns regarding the control of data from such ‘joint surveys’ with the Chinese. Sri Lanka also declared a one year long (2024) moratorium of foreign scientific research vessels carrying out surveys in Sri Lankan waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), while the island nation pushed for its sovereign capacity building efforts.
It is reliably learnt that Sri Lanka’s efforts to build sovereign capacity of hydrography, ocean sciences and its underwater domain awareness is bearing fruit. Senior government sources told The Daily Morning that Sri Lanka is in discussions with a ‘friendly state’ to acquire towed multi-beam sonar for hydrography. The device is a type of active sonar system used to map the seafloor and detect objects in the water column or along the seafloor. It is learnt that the system, which is likely a grant, will be made available to Sri Lanka by the end of the year. The new kit is a major leap in technology and capacity for Sri Lanka, and can be deployed from the stern of different vessels, offering Sri Lanka flexibility in its use. The addition of the said multi-beam sonar, also comes in the wake of Japan’s recent announcement that it will provide Sri Lanka a vessel equipped for hydrographic surveys. The announcement was made by visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in May during a meeting with her counterpart, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry. “Japan and Sri Lanka are both island nations surrounded by the sea. Japan intends to further strengthen cooperation with Sri Lanka in the maritime domain in order to realise a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific. In this regard, based on a request from Sri Lanka, I have conveyed to Minister Sabry that Japan will offer a vessel equipped with sonar to be used for compiling maritime charts” the Japanese Foreign Minister said. The timeline on delivery of the Japanese vessel is unknown.
In capacity building, Sri Lanka also needs to have a change in governance culture and listen to credible subject matter experts, and not go down the old practice of using new structures as a ‘job bank’ for political stooges.
The State must also recognise the importance that hydrography and ocean science holds for the island, and draft a practical road map to achieve key targets. It also needs to make the necessary budgetary allocations to sustain such services and research. Sri Lanka needs a whole-government approach to formulate a national policy regarding how it will deal with and engage with the vast ocean and the domain it has sovereign and economic rights to.
There also needs to be a streamline set of national maritime goals which all state, civil, military and academic stakeholders should work towards achieving. Sri Lanka needs to formulate a national marine spatial plan, from which a national hydrographic survey plan should be prepared.
Furthermore, the Government must come up with a robust, multi-year, national marine sciences survey plan with clear goals, with roles and tasks clearly demarcated. None of this will help, if the Government continues to throw dimes at an issue which needs funding priority. Sri Lanka spends a pittance on research. This needs to change. Sri Lanka need to understand that without credible research, we can’t effectively predict our weather, understand our marine domain, map and secure our living and non-living ocean resources, nor exert sovereign control over them.