Mr. KHL Amaralal, Head of Socio-Economic and Marketing Division of NARA said that the fish population in the shallow seas around Sri Lanka has decreased by about 50%.
He said that this situation has been caused by the fact that fishermen in this country have been fishing more than the optimum level for decades.
The area up to 24 km from the coast is considered as shallow sea in this country.
Mr. Amaralal said that about 80% of the Sri Lankan fishing vessels harvest fish resources from that sea area.
However, he pointed out that there is no shortage of fish resources in the sea areas from 24 to 200 kilometers as well as in the exclusive economic zone and international sea areas.
Mr. Amaralal mentioned that by expanding the fishing activities in those areas, it is possible to harvest fish resources in abundance and more fishermen should focus on that.
