Prevention of Destructive Fishing Practices: Prospects and Challenges in Law Reform

Abstract

Destructive fishing practices have been identified as a common problem in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The major causes for destructive fishing in Northern region are increasing the demand for fish consumption, lack of alternative jobs for early dropout schoolchildren, increased gear efficiency, policy failure of existing laws, and poaching by Indian and Southern migratory fishers. The dynamiting, bottom trawling, monofilament net, stake net, brush pile fisheries, purse seines and scuba diving have been identified as the most common destructive fishing practices in the Northern region. Consequences of destructive fishing practices include unintentional killing of target and non-target fish and other marine organisms, hampering local fishing activities such as operations of gill nets and fiber plastic boats and threatening environmentally sensitive marine ecosystems in Sri Lanka. The entire fishing sector in Sri Lanka is regulated by mainly the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act No. 2 of 1996 and the Fisheries Act No. 59 of 1979 enacted by the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR). The Fisheries Act No. 59 of 1979 prohibits fishing by foreign boats in Sri Lankan waters with provisions to impose penalties for any violations. However, major loopholes which are not included in the act comprise of type of fishing gear, methods and harmful material that are prohibited and specific penalty system for usage of banned fishing gear, materials and methods. At the international level, Sri Lanka has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) established to outline a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. Furthermore, the major international instruments ratified by Sri Lanka are “The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Conservation of Biological Diversity (CBD), and The Conservation on International Trade in Endangered species (CITES). However, these legal instruments have not been regulated in the Sri Lankan fishing sector. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the existing laws with proper law enforcement while considering geographical regions, type and abundance of marine resources, oceanography, ecology, social aspects and regular monitoring system of fishing practices to maintain the sustainability of marine resources.