Sri Lanka’s moratorium on foreign research vessels is hampering fish stock assessment work at a time when stocks are declining, an official has said.
The moratorium was introduced towards the end of the previous government’s term in 2024, after India raised objections on security grounds to Chinese research vessels operating in Sri Lankan waters, the Daily Mirror reported.
The current government under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has kept the ban in place pending the drafting of Standard Operating Procedures for such visits. That process has not been completed. Fisheries authorities have submitted their own proposals for inclusion in the SOPs.
The practical consequence is that the surveys used to measure what is in the sea have stalled while the resource itself is under pressure.
Aquaculture as the short-term answer
With natural replenishment of marine stocks not feasible in the short term, fisheries authorities are planning to increase investment in aquaculture to lift production.
The Ministry is seeking approval for a soft loan in the forthcoming Budget to expand cage farming in major freshwater reservoirs.
Officials also plan to step up marine research using the vessel already operated by the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) — domestic capacity that falls outside the moratorium.
The question of foreign research ships has been among the more persistent points of friction in Sri Lanka’s relations with India and China, with port calls and survey permissions repeatedly read in New Delhi and Beijing as strategic rather than scientific decisions.
