Wildlife Dept. bureaucracy standing in way of whale watching exposed

By Ifham Nizam

Whales were neither disturbed nor harmed by tourists, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said yesterday.

Minister Ranatunga called for the lifting of restrictions imposed by the Wildlife Department on boat owners who took tourists on whale watching at Mirissa.

The Wildlife Department has recently imposed restrictions on whale watching vessels off the coast of Mirissa, according to reports.

Accordingly, Minister Ranatunga summoned the representatives of the Mirissa Tourist Hotel Owners’ Association to Colombo for a discussion and also summoned the relevant officials of the Wildlife Department.

The owners of the Mirissa whale watching boats raised their concerns and pointed out that wildlife officials only allowed whale watching after 2 pm.

Wildlife officials responded by saying that restrictions were due to numerous issues including a shortage of staff.

The Matara District Secretary was contacted by Minister Ranatunga and requested that 10 employees recruited under the Job Point programme be made available to the Wildlife Department.

The District Secretary complied with the request. Improvements to facilities at the Mirissa Fisheries Harbour for local and foreign whale watchers were also discussed at length.

State Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, who was also present, discussed with Minister Ranatunga the action that needed to be taken in that regard. Accordingly, it was decided to convene a meeting of Ministers and officials of the Ministries of Tourism, Fisheries and Wildlife to expedite the resolution of issues related to whale watching in the area. The Minister instructed the Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism to take necessary follow-up steps.