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    Historical Development of Fisheries

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    Wimalasena
    Fishing has been an important economic activity in Sri Lanka since ancient times, as evidenced by references from the 1st century AD. Traditional fishing techniques described in early Buddhist texts such as nets, hooks, and baskets are still used today. While commercial fishing began under British rule in the 18th century focused on pearl oysters, development of Sri Lanka's fisheries was limited until after independence. The establishment of a separate fisheries department and ministry in the 1940s-1970s led to modernization, including new boats and engines, increasing total fish production significantly by the 1970s. Further economic reforms in the 1980s promoted investment in deep sea fishing and infrastructure, accelerating fisheries development and increasing offshore fish production.

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    Historical Development of Fisheries

    Uploaded by

    Wimalasena
    2K views4 pages
    Fishing has been an important economic activity in Sri Lanka since ancient times, as evidenced by references from the 1st century AD. Traditional fishing techniques described in early Buddhist texts such as nets, hooks, and baskets are still used today. While commercial fishing began under British rule in the 18th century focused on pearl oysters, development of Sri Lanka's fisheries was limited until after independence. The establishment of a separate fisheries department and ministry in the 1940s-1970s led to modernization, including new boats and engines, increasing total fish production significantly by the 1970s. Further economic reforms in the 1980s promoted investment in deep sea fishing and infrastructure, accelerating fisheries development and increasing offshore fish production.

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    Fishing has been an important economic activity in Sri Lanka since ancient times, as evidenced by references from the 1st century AD. Traditional fishing techniques described in early Buddhist texts such as nets, hooks, and baskets are still used today. While commercial fishing began under British rule in the 18th century focused on pearl oysters, development of Sri Lanka's fisheries was limited until after independence. The establishment of a separate fisheries department and ministry in the 1940s-1970s led to modernization, including new boats and engines, increasing total fish production significantly by the 1970s. Further economic reforms in the 1980s promoted investment in deep sea fishing and infrastructure, accelerating fisheries development and increasing offshore fish production.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    2K views4 pages

    Historical Development of Fisheries

    Uploaded by

    Wimalasena
    Fishing has been an important economic activity in Sri Lanka since ancient times, as evidenced by references from the 1st century AD. Traditional fishing techniques described in early Buddhist texts such as nets, hooks, and baskets are still used today. While commercial fishing began under British rule in the 18th century focused on pearl oysters, development of Sri Lanka's fisheries was limited until after independence. The establishment of a separate fisheries department and ministry in the 1940s-1970s led to modernization, including new boats and engines, increasing total fish production significantly by the 1970s. Further economic reforms in the 1980s promoted investment in deep sea fishing and infrastructure, accelerating fisheries development and increasing offshore fish production.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
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    Fishing has been an important economic activity in Sri Lanka since ancient times, with techniques like nets, hooks and baskets mentioned in early literature. Traditional coastal and inland fishing methods from centuries ago are still used today.

    Over centuries, fishing techniques gradually incorporated new technologies like motorized boats and synthetic nets. The commercial pearl fishery begun by Britain expanded fishing's economic role. Mechanization and modern boats afterwards enabled offshore fishing.

    A separate fisheries department was formed in 1948 and fishing became a key economy sector. The 1970s saw increased production and the first fisheries ministry. Infrastructure, processing and exports expanded the industry rapidly.

    A Historical Glance at the Fisheries Development of Sri Lanka

    Earliest reference which indicates that fishing in reservoirs and canals was an important
    economic activity of the ancient Sinhala people is found in the Perimiyankulam Rock
    inscription of King Vsabha (65 -109 A.D.). There were some common techniques used in
    inland fishing. Some ancient Pali and Sinhala literary sources bear testimony to that effect.
    According to Samanthapasadika the hook (bili) net (jala) and long basket (kemana) were the
    most common methods used in the inland fishing in the fifth century A.D. Most of the
    techniques in inland fishing have come down from the early Anuradhapura period to the
    present day. Buddhist religious documents such as Jataka Atuwa Gatapadaya,
    Saddhrmaratnavali and Saddharmalankara have described them in detail.

    Fishing Cove near Colombo (1808,Samuel Daniel)

    Robert Knox has mentioned in his ‘Historical Relations of the Island of Ceylon’ many
    techniques of inland fishing as referred to in ancient Sri Lanka literature. Historical sources
    dating back to the 16th century depicts traditional fishing practices used for marine and
    lagoon fishery such as beach seine, stake net and fish kraals (jakotu) which are continued to
    present day. However, the commercial fishing operations were started under the British
    regime around 18th century to harvest pearl oysters in the Mannar basin. The pearl oyster
    fishery was started in 1801 by the colonial government and carried out until 1920’s and
    abandoned thereafter due to diminishing returns.

    ‘Kemana’ (fish trap also called long basket) (1923, Joseph Pearson)

    Until 1940s, a little attention was paid to overall development of the fisheries by the colonial
    government. In the post independent era Sri Lankan fisheries gradually developed in to an
    important economic activity of the Sri Lankan economy. A separate Department of Fisheries
    was established in 1948 under the Ministry of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries.
    There after, fishing became an important sector in the economy and the fish production has
    been increased gradually. A half of the fish production in 1950 was produced from beach
    seine fishery which depicts the prevailed traditional nature of Sri Lankan fishery. After
    1950s with the introduction of synthetic gill nets and motorization of fishing crafts resulted in
    rapid changes in fishing technology and this was the turning point of the development of
    fisheries sector in Sri Lanka.
    Teppama (log raft) (1958, Anonymous)
    Another remarkable event occurred in 1970, was the establishment of a new Ministry of
    Fisheries for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, exclusively to look after fisheries
    development in the country. Under the 5 year national development plan of the then
    government the pivotal role of fisheries sector in the economic development was understood.
    The introduction of crafts with in-board engines under the hire purchase system enabled
    fishermen to deploy fishing operations in the off-shore area. As a result of modernization and
    mechanization of fishing industry, the total fish production in the country increased to 99,116
    tons in 1973.

    Multiday boats anchored in the Beruwela Fishery Harbour


    The outward oriented economic policies in 1980s promoted investment in the fisheries sector
    especially for harvesting deep sea fish resources. Simultaneously, rapid expansion in fishery
    infrastructure facilities, fish processing, marketing and export trade of fishery products
    accelerated the fisheries development in the country. Multiday fishery is a new development
    in the past two decades which contributed immensely to increase deep sea fish production.
    These multiday boats are well equipped with modern fishing gears and navigational
    instruments. The share of offshore/deep sea fish production was about 38% of total fish
    production in 2006. Expansion of the off-shore fisheries sector relieving the fishing pressure
    in the coastal areas and modernization of the industry in par with developed nations are now
    of the ambitious plans of the Government at present. The application of remote sensing
    technology to harvest offshore/deep sea fish resources will be the next advancement in the
    fishing technology in Sri Lanka in the years to come.

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