Fish prices have come down by an average of 22.7% this year

Steps taken by the Ministry of Fisheries to break the monopoly of intermediate fish Mudalalis have immensely helped in bringing down fish prices.  Price of Fish sold by the Fisheries Corporation has come by an average of 22.7% from the prices that existed during December last year.  This has contributed for the reduction of the prices of fish sold by the private fish vendors too by an average of 19.3%.  

This was revealed by the Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Mr. Rajitha Senaratne addressing a Media Conference at the Department of Information on Monday.  The Media Conference was held to counter the malicious reports published by certain media recently alleging that the Fisheries Corporation sells fish at prices over and above their published prices and giving “dead rope” to masses.  He said that these reports have been published contravening the media ethics of informing the factual truth to the masses and pointed out that the media personnel concerned have quoted the prices of fish sold by certain supermarkets and cited them as the price of fish sold by the Corporation.

He said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa awoke him from his sleep and enquired about it when these reports were published and a survey conducted by Ministry officials found that the news reports have misquoted the prices of a private fish vendor in Maligawatte and in supermarkets as prices being sold by the Fisheries Corporation.

The Minister said that all institutions under the Ministry he held previously was transformed from loss making institutions to profit making institutions and similarly all institutions coming under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will be transformed as profit making institutions by end of last year and the contribution to the GDP from the Fisheries sector will be increased to 50%.  He said that this is possible because of many measures being taken by his Ministry to stop illegal methods of fishing and thereby destroying fish resources, and strict measures taken to completely curb corruption.  He said that he has sacked several officials and some being his own supporters who helped him in the election.

Dr. Senaratne said that legal action has been initiated against 229 persons for practising illegal methods of fishing and pointed out that 38 persons were taken into custody in Kalawewa in the middle of the night.  He said that dynamite fishing has been completely stopped in Trincomalee, and in coordination with the Navy action will be taken to stop such practices in Mannar as well.

The Minister said that during the committee stage budget discussions, no opposition member criticised the activities of his Ministry and they even thanked the President for assigning this Ministry to him.  He said that among the action taken by the Ministry to bring down fish prices was to purchase fish direct from the fishermen and pointed out that in Battalgoda in the Puttalam district a fish vendor was paying the electricity bill of fishermen to take their total catch.  He said that his Ministry officials negotiated with these fishermen who bring in a considerable amount of fish to the shore to hand over their total catch to the Ministry and they have been given gernerators  to supply electricity to the whole area.

He said another measure being taken was to monitor the fish being brought to the shore in various parts of the island and make immediate arrangements to purchase them and bring them in freezer trucks to other areas immediately.

Dr. Senaratne said that since he undertook the Ministry in June, 20 Fisheries Corporation Stalls were established throughout the island to sell fresh fish in addition to fish stalls being established in Sathosa Outlets to sell frozen fish.

Referring to future programmes the Minister said that fish harvest by next year will be increased to 500,000 metric tons, two fish canning factories will be established in Sri Lanka, and exports to European countries will be expanded considerably.  He said that with regard to export of fish to major European fish markets, he has already held discussions and a team of investigators are arriving in Sri Lanka in January to make a study on the methods used and availability of fish in Sri Lanka.