Sri Lanka managed to avoid a ban on exporting its fish to the European Union, after pledging to comply with industry regulations, following complaints from the United Kingdom reported the Sunday Times.
At the 16th session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) held in Australia, the British Indian Overseas Territory complained that Sri Lankan fishermen were involved in illegal poaching. The complaint was also put forward by the UK, who according to Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, attempted to “ban our entire fleet of fisheries vessels for fishing in international waters”.
They went on to call for the country to be placed on Illegal Unreported Unregulated list. The blacklist would have barred all sales to the EU, which makes up roughly 68% (Rs. 22 billion) of Sri Lanka’s total annual fish exports.
However, Fisheries Secretary Damitha de Zoysa managed to “save the day” by vowing to abide by the industry regulations, stating,
“The 24-member IOTC was annoyed that we were yet to comply with the international regulations despite several complaints of poaching by Sri Lankan fishermen. We were able to save the day by pledging to comply with the IOTC requirements that included installation of a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) on each boat”.
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