FAO has been selected by the Government and by the WB/ADB/JBIC/JICA Needs Assessment Group to be the official coordinator of fisheries in Sri Lanka. FAO has taken steps to institute regular NGO/Donor Coordination Meeting of which three have been held since January 18th. A joint FAO-Ministry of Fisheries working group on fisheries sector rehabilitation has been established. The FAO Emergency Coordination Unit (ECU) in Sri Lanka is participating in damages and needs assessment. The local FAO team is being reinforced by international and national experts, including a master fisherman, a naval architect and a specialist boat builder. The procurement process has been initiated and so far materials have been purchased locally, among them 65 irrigation pumps, 270 knapsack sprayers and 9000 mammoties (a spade like instrument used for digging.The first of a USD380 000 consignment of boat repair kits to help restore the livelihoods of thousands of Sri Lankan fishermen was delivered to the Ministry of Fisheries. The repair kits will go to boat yards set up around the country by the Sri Lankan government to repair those vessels salvaged by the surviving fishermen.In order to ensure that all external aid is appropriately used for the entire benefit of the affected communities with proper accountability and transparency and to avoid duplication of efforts by the different agencies involved, FAO and the Sri Lankan fisheries ministry have established a joint working group to co-ordinate relief efforts for the fisheries industry. Recruited staff include a fisheries advisor, a naval architect, a master fisherman, a boat builder, an expert in vessel construction standards, an ice plant/ cold store specialist, a harbour specialist, an agricultural advisor and an international information/communications officer.7 national agronomists have been mobilised from ongoing projects. In the fisheries sector local staff include one aquaculture specialist, one fishery sector expert, one development planner, one institutional expert, one marine biologist, one master fisherman, one marketing/post-harvest expert and one boat repair unit coordinator.

Planned activities include: emergency provision of seeds, tools and other agricultural inputs; the replacement and repair of fishing materials; provision of the correct specification of new gear and materials for mending nets; the initial repair of infrastructure needed for agricultural production; the rehabilitation of fishery harbours, anchorages and production related infrastructure; formulation, within an integrated land and coastal ecosystem management plan, of a comprehensive plan for the rehabilitation of affected forests and mangroves.