The prevailing economic crisis dealt a huge blow to the country’s fisheries sector resulting in setbacks and decline of production thereby raising the retail prices of fish during last year, says the Central bank in its latest annual report.
The seventy third Annual Report of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka released recently (April 27), shows that the challenges posed by the economic fallout caused the decline of total fish production by 8.9 per cent to 397,230 tonnes in 2022, compared to the previous year.
The drop has been mainly driven by the disruptions caused by domestic fuel shortages on fishing activities and supply chains, particularly in relation to marine fishing activities.
The marine fish production, which accounted for about 71 per cent of the total fish production in 2022, declined by 15.4 per cent, year-on-year, to 280,610 tonnes in 2022.
Retail prices of fish varieties remained broadly elevated in 2022 as a result of increased logistics costs, while upward revisions in kerosene prices in August and November 2022 kept prices at higher levels in the latter part of the year, compared to the corresponding period of 2021.
According to the Ministry of Fisheries, total fish exports contracted by 3.8 per cent, year-on-year, reflecting the subdued performance of the sector, whereas fish imports reported a year-on-year contraction of 25.7 per cent, in volume terms, during the period under review.
Amidst the energy crisis, the fishery sector encountered several setbacks, prompting the Government to take several measures to ensure the continuity of fisheries activities during turbulent times, thereby safeguarding the sector from severe economic shocks and enhancing the performance of the fishing industry. Accordingly, provisioning of fuel for fishery activities was ensured by enabling a manual system, while identifying filling stations in major fisheries regions on a priority basis to distribute limited fuel stocks, the report said.