Wednesday, 22 April 2015 01:13
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A European Commission delegation is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka in June to review the ban on fish exports from Sri Lanka to the European Union.
A team attached to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries section of the European Commission has reportedly planned a visit to Sri Lanka in June to find out how the fisheries sector is implementing a series of recommendations put forward by the Commission which banned exports of fish products from the island.
The EU delegation, after their arrival in the island, is expected to review the steps taken by Sri Lanka to stop illegal fishing in the Indian Ocean and proceed from there to lift the ban.
The ban that went into effect from 14 January 2015 on fish exports from Sri Lanka to the EU under the EU regulation on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing was discussed during the 19th meeting of the European Union (EU)-Sri Lanka Joint Commission held on 2 April 2015 in Colombo.
The EU took note of the recently submitted roadmap and called on Sri Lanka to address the remaining shortcomings in the fisheries sector. Sri Lanka promised to submit its next progress report to the EU in May.
The EU imports about 1,500 tons of fishery products per month from Sri Lanka and the country earns about $ 200 million a year from the exports to EU. The EU buys about 50% of Sri Lanka’s fishery exports.
Fishery export companies in Sri Lanka fear that if the Government fails to implement EU recommendations and get the ban lifted quickly, their companies would be forced to close.
The European Commission has asked the Government to install a satellite-guided Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) on all fishing vessels of Sri Lankan origin to curb illegal fishing.
The Government reportedly is in the process of fulfilling the requirement and expected to complete the installation of the VMS system before the delegation’s visit in June.
It has been reported that the Prime Minister’s office is weekly reviewing the progress of the implementation of EU recommendations.
