Constraints in culture-based fisheries of Sri Lanka and strategies for future development

Abstract

In the fisheries sector, fisheries enhancement through culture-based fisheries (CBF) has been recognized as an environmentally friendly approach, which is bound to contribute to increasing food fish production, especially in developing countries. Through concerted efforts, Sri Lanka achieved considerable success in CBF development in small village reservoirs in the country. However, there are some constraints to achieve the full potential in the development of CBF in Sri Lankan inland waters, which require certain interventions. Despite the availability of a magnitude of small village reservoirs in the country, the full potential of utilization of these water bodies is not achieved mainly due to the inadequacy of stocking material at the correct time under the present strategy of fish fingerling production for stocking reservoirs. It is therefore imperative that effective intervention be in place for the establishment of backyard hatcheries using simple technologies to the self-help community groups in the rural areas. The CBF strategies in non-perennial reservoirs of the country are essentially dependent on the water availability in reservoirs following monsoonal rainfall patterns. Due to anomalies in monsoonal rainfall patterns under climate change scenarios, water availability in non-perennial reservoirs in the dry zone of Sri Lanka for CBF development is rather unpredictable. As such, there is a potential risk that the rural groups engaged in fry-to-fingerling production face the difficulty of selling fish fingerlings to CBF farming groups when the non-perennial reservoirs are not filled due to insufficient monsoonal rains. An alternative strategy to link fingerling-producing community groups with the agricultural farming communities in minor perennial reservoirs should be in place to prevent such potential financial losses of fingerling producers.

Appraisal of culture‐based fisheries of giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii, De Man, 1879) in reservoirs of Sri Lanka

“…The capacity of Sri Lankan reservoirs (Figure 1) to support the GFWP CBF is immense (Wijenayake et al., 2005). Regardless of the availability of a wide array of reservoirs (Amarasinghe & De Silva, 2016), supportive management frameworks (Wijenayake et al., 2021) and supplies of GFWP PLs (Chandrasoma & Pushpalatha, 2018), the production of GFWP is comparatively attenuated, unutilized and underestimated. It is a prerequisite to assess the adaptability and behavioural biology of riverine species, such as M. rosenbergii , when introduced to lacustrine systems, such as irrigation reservoirs (De Silva & Funge‐Smith, 2005).…”

“…Sri Lanka is endowed with more than 12,000 reservoirs with a total extent of 206,000 ha (Wijenayake et al., 2021) and potential from other wetlands (Figure 1). The inland fisheries are primarily reservoir‐based (Amarasinghe & De Silva, 1999), whose primary functions are for either irrigation, hydropower or both.…”

Some warning signs detected in coastal pelagic fisheries of the west coast of Sri Lanka: Declining trend of <em>Amblygaster sirm</em> suggesting the need for immediate management initiatives

“…The fishers engaged in the small pelagic fishery are mostly artisanal fishers who operate OFRP vessels and motorized or non-motorized traditional crafts. At present, the coastal pelagic fishery is mainly practiced by OFRP boats (Dissanayake 2005;Haputhantri et al 2008;Wijayaratne 2001) with a range of mesh sizes (Bandaranayake et al 2022). However, this fishery is greatly influenced by the two monsoons; South West and North East (Wijayaratne & Maldeniya 2003).…”

“…There is much evidence for the unsustainable utilization of coastal pelagic fishery resources (Haputhantri et al 2008), in particular, the use of smaller mesh sizes (Jayasinghe et al 2018(Jayasinghe et al , 2019 and the prevailing open-access nature (Wijayaratne 2001) which leads to altering the structure of marine food web (Razzaghi et al 2016). The poor management of small-scale fisheries in many coastal countries is a result of a set of factors: poverty, lack of alternative employment, inappropriate incentives, and weak governance (Gr éboval 2002).…”

Alarming signs detected in the small pelagic fishery on the west coast of Sri Lanka

“…Small pelagic sh play extremely important ecological roles in marine ecosystems, and contributes for global food security, economy (Peck et al 2021) and nutririons (Isaacs, 2016) of the local communities. Similarly, in Sri Lanka, over sixty small pelagic marine sh species (De Bruin et al, 1994; Karunasinghe, et al, 2000) are targeted by the small-scale artisanal shermen using Outboard Engine Fiber Reinforced Plastic (OFRP) boats (Dissanayake, 2005, Haputhantri et al, 2008, Wijayaratne 2001). Among them, the key target species in the shery is spotted sardinella (Amblygatster sirm).…”