Norway funds fishery master plan for Sri Lanka

Norway has provided financial and technical assistance to prepare a policy document to pave the way for drawing up a fishery Master Plan for Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Oslo Godfrey Cooray said in a statement to The Island recently.

 The statement followed Ambassador Cooray’s meeting a top level Norwegian delegation led by Minister of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Seafood Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen. According to the Sri Lankan mission in Norway, the Master Plan would be prepared in line with the fisheries policy developed with Norwegian assistance. The overall plan included preparation of health guidelines for the sector.

Ambassador Cooray has also requested Norway to explore the possibility of deploying the research vessel RV Dr.Fridjof Nansan to conduct marine resource surveying every three years, in addition to strengthening capacities of NARA RV Samudrika vessel for conducting marine surveys.

 Cooray also functions as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Finland and Iceland.

 Cooray has briefed the Norwegian delegation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s efforts to expand the fisheries sector in an effort to halt fish imports.

The embassy statement quoted Ambassador Cooray as having said: “There is a need to establish proper quality and safety certification system for fish and fisheries products. Proper fish quality and safety is important in the assure the safety of the consumers. Presently, there is no proper quality and safety certification system. Sri Lanka has to develop the proper safety and quality certification including MSC (Marine stewardship Council) certification. This should be developed for local as well as for the export market. We need Norwegian assistance in this regard”