The National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) says no El Niño condition has developed in Sri Lankan waters, and that El Niño is not responsible for the current decline in fish harvests.

Speaking at a media briefing in Colombo, the NARA chairman said there is currently no El Niño condition affecting the island, Hiru News reported. While temperature changes can directly affect activity at sea, he said, observations do not indicate the presence of an El Niño condition in Sri Lankan waters at present — and El Niño therefore cannot be identified as the reason for the reduced catch.

The position has hardened since August

This is a firmer answer than the agency gave three weeks ago. When NARA said on 22 August that the fish harvest has been declining since 2014, its chairman put it as a matter still open: it had not yet been established whether El Niño was contributing, and there was no confirmation Sri Lanka had been directly affected.

Thursday’s statement moves from unconfirmed to ruled out. The underlying question was put to the agency by the Fisheries Ministry, which requested a scientific report on 9 August covering fish populations and the potential impact of El Niño after fishermen reported falling catches.

What has still not been supplied is a cause. NARA has now excluded one explanation without offering another, and has released no tonnage figures at any point in the exchange.

A different question from the rainfall one

NARA’s remit is marine, and its statement is about sea conditions and fish stocks. It does not directly answer the separate warnings framed around rainfall and reservoirs — including the FAO caution about an exceptional El Niño that accompanied the shutdown of Polonnaruwa’s irrigation releases last week.

Hiru also carries a same-day advisory from the Department of Meteorology: the heat index will remain at a cautionary level on Thursday across the North Central and Eastern Provinces and in the Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Kurunegala, Monaragala and Hambantota districts. That follows dry weather affecting more than 154,000 people across eight districts.

A note on the name: Hiru renders the chairman as “Dr Sarath Hettiarrachchi”; our earlier coverage, following Ada Derana and Daily Mirror, has him as Prof. Sanath Hettiarachchi. Same office, three spelling differences, and no outlet resolves it.

Sources: Hiru News.