Recently, two IFL staff went to Sri Lanka under the auspices of the International Development Agency (ICEIDA), the United Nations University School of Fisheries (UNU-FTP) and the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) in Sri Lanka. The purpose was to make an assessment of the quality of fishing ports in Sri Lanka and help to improve those issues in connection with the development after the great natural disasters, e.g. December 26, 2004
Sveinn V. Árnason and Birna Guðbjörnsdóttir, specialists in the IFL Research Division, went to Sri Lanka in mid-May and stayed there for two weeks. They are not completely unfamiliar with this kind of work, as they were among the four IFL employees who went to Viet twice a few years ago to assist universities in that country in preparing quality material in the field of quality in the fishing industry.
As is well known, there was a lot of damage to Sri Lanka in the natural disasters in 2004, both human and property damage. About half of the country's fishing vessels were destroyed, ports were damaged and hundreds of thousands of people who had been employed in fishing and processing lost their lives. It was therefore a lot at stake for the locals to get things back on track and preferably better, as soon as possible.
According to Sveinn and Birna, their involvement in the project consists mainly of the preparation of study material for harbor masters and parties in the management system who are involved in harbor matters. The course deals with the state of quality in fishing ports in Sri Lanka and ways to improve the quality of the catch that passes through the ports. They visited fishing ports in Sri Lannka, including Beruwala south of the capital Colombo, where the accompanying photos were taken.
The main problems are the lack of clean water, both for use in port areas and for ice production. There are also various deficiencies regarding hygiene and all handling of the fish, the ice and in fact the entire area that the fish pass through within the harbors. In addition to Birna and Sveinn, Ranjith Edirisinghe, Director,
Post Harvest Division, NARA, Mr. Marcus Mallikage, Ministry of Fisheries and Ms. Induni Kariyawasam (Research Officer), NARA and Marcus studied in Iceland at UNU-FTP in 2001.
Ranjith and Marcus are currently in Iceland and an interview with them in Morgunblaðið today states that about 40% of the catch is wasted after it is caught and therefore it is urgent to improve aspects such as handling and storage.
Pictured here are: Ranjith Edirisinghe, Birna, Sveinn and Marcus Mallikage.