Rejecting objections from Indian fishermen against Sri Lanka’s artificial reef project, a minister has asked India to first ban the destructive practice of bottom trawling.

State Minister of Fisheries Kanchana Wijesekara told EconomyNext the Sri Lankan initiative was the result of years of study.

“It is not an irresponsible project, but one that is globally proven and practiced. We don’t accept their claims or the statements they are making,” he said.
 
Fisherfolk in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu has objected to the Sri Lankan initiative to submerge discarded buses in the island’s northern waters to create an artificial reef. Twenty such buses were submerged near the Delft Island off Jaffna on June 11.

The Indian media reported on Wednesday that experts in India have called the move “irresponsible”, while fishing communities expressed fears that the buses would drift underwater into India’s territorial waters affecting its fishing industry.

Defending the Sri Lankan initiative, Wijesakara said it is the fourth phase of a project taken up about six months ago by the department of fisheries and aquatic resources alongside the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) to cultivate artificial reefs around Sri Lanka.

The first phase was in the southern town of Trincomalee, and the second and third phases in Galle and Matara cities respectively.

The fourth phase, in the country’s northern waters, is ongoing.

“For about two to three years, NARA and the fisheries department have been studying how we can develop artificial reefs for fish spawning. That is the main idea behind this project. Similar projects have been done all over the world, even in developed countries. Sri Lanka is the first country in the region to do it,” said Wijesakara.

“We did a couple of underwater museum galleries as well,” he added.

Responding to claims by the Indian fishermen and experts, the minister said they’re probably baseless, as artificial reef building has been tried globally.

“If a scientific agency is saying this is an irresponsible move, then they probably don’t have scientific research to back it. The most irresponsible act of the Indian marine research institute is not banning bottom trawling. This is a banned and illegal practice globally which damages marine environment and reserves,” said Wijesakara.

Sri Lanka has for years been complaining that bottom trawling was robbing it of its marine resources.

Wijesekara said despite numerous requests to stop bottom-line trawling by Indian fishermen, nothing has been done to minimize it, whereas Sri Lanka banned the practice entirely in 2017.

“I don’t know who are these fishermen objecting to (the reef project), but I assume they engage in bottom trawling. Their concern might be that the submerged vehicles would affect their fishing gear.  But this is a 100 percent scientifically proven method; it doesn’t cause any damage to the sea bed,” he said.

“This will create more artificial fish spawning spaces and coral beds. So I urge our Indian counterparts to ban bottom trawling instead and to consider its impact on the ocean,” he added.

(SAM)