This chapter describes the policy which the Mission advises the Ministry of Fisheries to adopt in order to implement the strategic plan as outlined in chapter 6. The policy is relatively independent of the scale of Government's total effort to develop aquaculture. Immediate actions (operational plans) for each of the selected culture systems, which of course are very much linked to availability of funds, are outlined in chapter 8.
It is most unlikely that the private sector will make any effective contribution to development of any of the culture systems included in the proposed strategic plan for aquaculture development. The one exception is the “large-scale culture of shrimps in ponds by corporate enterprises”. In other areas it will be the task of the Ministry of Fisheries to lead the way. Development and adaptive research should develop practical culture systems to the point where results are sufficient to allow both Ministers and potential fish farmers to come to well-informed decisions regarding the amount of investment in commercial scale systems that would be justified, and to discern in what circumstances these decisions would be valid.
It is well known that in developing societies it is a strenuous task to change patterns of economic activities of rural populations. The farmer generally believes only what he sees and experiences. Thus, extension agents must have commercially proven technology to disseminate.
The activities of the Ministry of Fisheries in research and development in the field of aquaculture should be of direct and immediate relevance to establishing viable commercial systems. Basic research should be universities. The adaptive research to be carried out by the Ministry of Fisheries should produce practical results that will allow quantitative appraisals of economic viability to be made. To this end, more emphasis should be placed upon development of pilot scale activities, simulation of commercial fish farming and, in due course and when appropriate, on carrying out experiments and investigations at commercial fish farms.
The Ministry should review their methods and procedures for formulating, executing and supervising their programme of research and development, and in due course, of their system of disseminating the results. Provision should be made for involving the potential users of the results (would-be fish farmers, manufacturers of feed, and so on) in programme formulation. Ongoing research and/or development projects should be examined for their relevance in relation to the proposed strategic plan for aquaculture development. Quarterly reviews should be made of scientific and technical progress, estimates of completion dates and resources required should be revised in the light of experience.
The Mission was informed of the proposal to establish a National Aquatic Resources Agency (NARA), and of the intention of absorbing all aquaculturists in that agency. The Mission believes that the separation of aquaculture research (to be handled by NARA) and development (to be handled by the Inland Fisheries Development Division) would have definite disadvantages with respect to development. Development needs to be backed up by research, and research programmes should be developed using the experience of development and extension workers. The fact that NARA nominally would be part of the Ministry may not in itself ensure integration of research and development activities. Ideally a mechanism should be found whereby it will be in the interest of researchers and development workers to cooperate in the field.
There is no aquaculture extension service in Sri Lanka. It will take some time to create a service, as extension workers must be identified and trained. Any attempt at introducing and establishing commercial practices by people who are not themselves familiar with the technology is likely to backfire; not only must extension agents have viable technology to demonstrate, they must themselves be experienced in its practical use.
As is evident from other sections of this report, the Mission considers an extension service to be essential for the implementation of almost all the culture systems included in the strategic plan. It, therefore, recommends that the Ministry of Fisheries place great importance on the creation of a qualified extension service.
The Mission proposes that training of aquaculture extension workers be initiated at the Udawalawe fish culture station as part of the proposed technical assistance project “Aquaculture Development and Training”. The first priority of future extension workers should be to become thoroughly familiar with the aquaculture technology that they will be promoting. This familiarization will start at Udawalawe and will continue afterwards as the extension workers participate in the fish culture development work to be carried out at some of the fish culture stations (see section 8.6). Once the extension workers are conversant with relevant fish culture technology, they should acquaint themselves with those sections of the rural population that may harbour potential aquaculturists.
Pond and cage culture of fresh water fish have not yet reached a stage where extension work is justified. The Mission is, therefore, of the view that it is not advisable for the Ministry of Fisheries to continue its present efforts to promote these culture systems amongst farmers and fishermen.
The 11 fish culture stations now in operation and the 4 under construction (see map) represent an overwhelming proportion of the capital invested by the Ministry of Fisheries for the purpose of developing aquaculture. They are important, from the economic point of view, not only because they represent large investments but also because they are irreversible investments: once constructed they have little second-hand value.
Until the beginning of the 1980s, the primary and dominant purpose of the fresh water stations was to provide fingerlings for stocking of perennial tanks (reservoirs). As noted earlier, the performance of most of the stations has been far below expectations. There are several reasons for this. Amongst them are: inappropriate site selection, design and construction methods. As a result the water supply is often deficient, seepage and leakage occur in ponds and running costs are high (for details concerning some of the stations see Annex 21).
The aquaculture development strategy advocated by the Mission does not include stocking of major, perennial tanks. In the Mission's view some of the stations will be used for other purposes. Some, possibly Inginiyagala, Bambara Keley, Udawalawe I, should produce fingerlings, but for stocking seasonal tanks.
A few of the stations (Polonnaruwa, Dambulla Oya, Ginigathena) can also serve as centres for trials of pond culture. Once this type of culture is proven these same stations could serve as demonstration centres.
If the programme to develop the culture of fish in seasonal tanks expands at the speed that the Mission believes that it could - and hopes that it will - the requirements for fingerlings for stocking purposes by the mid-1980s will surpass the production capacity of the present fish culture stations. This situation is considered in more detail in section 8.1 which discusses Government actions to implement the “seasonal tanks project”.
On the whole the Mission is of the opinion that the Ministry of Fisheries in the future should spend a proportionately larger share of its capital budget on providing physical facilities required for the expansion of mariculture activities as outlined in the strategic plan for aquaculture development. The Mission expects that in implementing the strategic plan the Ministry will find it essential to construct two brackish water stations on the east coast.
At first sight it may be expeditious to combine the need for more culture facilities with improvements of the already existing, but malfunctioning, stations. The Mission is of the opinion that such temptations should be very carefully reviewed both with respect to need (all stations are not equally well situated to serve a seasonal tanks programme) and in particular so that engineering advice be obtained in order to have realistic estimates of construction and operational costs. The observations that the Mission's aquaculture engineer made on those stations which he visited are found in Annex 21.
A study of Annex 18, which deals with the characteristics of a carp hatchery, shows that rearing of fry to fingerlings is the activity which needs most pond space. It should be remembered that fry can be grown to fingerling size, and maintained as fingerlings, also in cages kept in perennial tanks; a more economical means than ponds.
The Mission came to the conclusion that “rehabilitation” of present stations will not be sufficient to meet the requirements of an expanding programme of fish culture in seasonal tanks. It therefore recommends that the Government should consider the possibility of establishing a major new fish culture station somewhere in North-Central Sri Lanka. If the need for fingerlings develops as expected, and a decision is taken to construct such a station, the Mission recommends that it be large enough to serve as a “National Inland Fisheries Research and Development Centre” (NIFRDC).
The Ministry of Fisheries selected a few locations which might serve as suitable sites for NIFRDC. The Mission's aquaculture engineer visited these sites. His report is presented in Annex 22. The site selection and evaluation procedure followed by the engineer is recommended for use in Sri Lanka. It is described in Annex 23. The Mission explicitly listed the characteristics that a location should have in order to be suitable as a site for NIFRDC (see Annex 16, section II F). It also listed the actions to be taken to determine the extent to which any site has the desired characteristics. These observations are general enough to be valid for any inland fish culture station and are repeated below:
The site should have the following characteristics:
Preferably the site should also:
Before the site is finally selected, the following investigations should have been carried out:
The Mission was impressed by the eagerness and sense of duty displayed by almost all those aquaculturists it met in Sri Lanka. Nevertheless shortage of staff is going to be the main factor restraining the development of aquaculture through the execution of the proposed strategic plan. This is true for most categories of staff, but most of all for the middle ranks of extension workers which at present do not exist.
Recruitment and training of staff (old and new) will not be sufficient. Working conditions and career prospects must be improved. In fact, if the latter is not achieved, training may be counter-productive for the Ministry of Fisheries: trained staff may find it in their interest to leave Government service. This situation is, however, not special to the Ministry of Fisheries: it is a country-wide problem and the Mission recognizes the difficulties which the Ministry will have of finding solutions on its own.
Most of the training required for most categories of staff to be employed by the Government in aquaculture schemes, can and would best be carried out in Sri Lanka. Training should take place as much as possible on the fish culture stations and should consist mainly in participating in ongoing activities. The Mission lays special emphasis on the training of an adequate number of middle-level technicians, whose services are likely to remain available to the Ministry. Only personnel who have already considerable experience and an interest in their subjects, demonstrated by achievement, should be sent overseas, and then mostly for visits to ongoing aquaculture enterprises.
The Inland Fisheries Development Division in the Ministry of Fisheries does not have access to adequate expertise in the fields of aquaculture engineering and economics (business administration). The Mission recommends that priority is given to obtaining an agricultural or civil engineer and that a career structure be given to his post so that it will be rewarding for him to remain within Government service. He should work in tandem with an experienced expatriate aquaculture engineer for a year. They should be responsible for all the Ministry's construction work, design and site selection for fish farms and fish culture stations.
The school of economics or business administration at a local university should be encouraged by research contracts or scholarships to take an interest in aquaculture, in such a way that one or more senior economists become familiar with the field and hold themselves available to the Ministry on request for an agreed minimum number of days in a year, for work relating to aquaculture.
The Mission believes that it would be useful if aquaculturists were given a basic course in economics. They will be responsible for the work of extension staff and must, therefore, have some capability to assist the latter in appraisal of possible culture activities.
The majority of the aquaculturists now employed by the Ministry of Fisheries are stationed at the fish culture stations. Many of them seem to have opted for the job in the expectation of being involved in research of an adaptive nature. They find themselves more engaged in administration of stations and routine production of fingerlings of Tilapia mossambica or common carp. Their working conditions and economic situation could be improved by:
Extension workers at the “inspector level” are now the missing link in the staffing of the Inland Fisheries Development Division. They exist but they are neither numerous nor effective enough (for no real fault of their own: aquaculturists have not demonstrated economically viable culture systems) to be of use. However, they will play a major role in any development of the culture systems accorded priority in the new strategic plan for aquaculture development.
As mentioned above, the Mission recommends that extension workers be trained at the Udawalawe station under the proposed international technical assistance project. During the three year project a total of 30 extension workers would be trained in three batches, each for a period of six months. Training would be provided in: production grow out and stocking of fry and fingerlings (tilapia and carp), fish handling, pond construction, extension methodology and economics. Training in pond culture of tilapia and carp would be carried out, as commercially rewarding systems are developed.
Training of marine aquaculture extension workers would have to await the outcome of preliminary work intended to develop suitable culture systems.
It seems likely that in Sri Lanka only small portions of the land areas adjacent to lagoons are ideally suited for construction of brackish water ponds. The Mission's proposed aquaculture development strategy identifies shrimp culture, and in particular shrimp culture by smallholders as the preferred use of such land. In order to limit speculation in this land, and to ensure that a reasonable portion becomes available for smallholders the Mission recommends that:
the Ministry of Fisheries undertakes a survey of lands suitable for brackish water pond construction;
a ruling be made that any sale, or lease of land in this area should have the approval of the local Government agent and should carry an obligation for its use, under penalty of expropriation;
Government land, designated as sites for brackish water ponds, be made acceptable as security for bank loans by leasing for long duration.
The Mission analysed the likely commercial results of fish culture instead of rice culture, in rice fields. The analysis is presented in Annex 10. The analysis concludes that fish culture in rice fields of low productivity (as reported for the areas around Colombo) might become a paying proposition, but the Mission is of the opinion that the Government should proceed very carefully, if at all, in introducing such culture practices: it would seem that the relatively small increase in net earnings which might accrue to the land owner, would be obtained at a large reduction of employment. As long as a situation of unemployment, or under-employment, prevails such a development can not be considered favourable. Therefore, the Ministry of Fisheries should encourage at present only the use of marginal, that is underutilized lands, for culture of fresh water fish in rural areas.
There does not seem to be any legislation in Sri Lanka that would afford legal protection to anyone claiming property rights of water areas (in the sea), of water columns or of sea bottom. Such legislation is necessary if any commercial culture of mollusc, seaweed, or marine fin fish in enclosures, is to develop, and the Mission suggests that the Government obtain legal assistance to formulate such legislation before any extension work is carried out.
The Mission recommeds that Government only subsidize those activities which are, or are likely to become, economically viable or socially defensible. The subsidy should serve to help the individual farmer, or investor/entrepreneur, to overcome unfamiliarity, uncertainty and inertia. It should be made clear that the subsidy is of a limited duration.
The Mission strongly recommends (a) that the Ministry of Fisheries develops the seasonal tanks programme on the premise that subsidies will be withdrawn after two to three years; and (b) that the scheme for subsidies for rural fish ponds be discontinued until such time as the commercial viability of pond culture has been demonstrated by Government aquaculturists.
If, and when, a programme to expand smallholder shrimp culture gets underway, the credit needs are likely to be large. Only Government, or banks, will then be able to supply the required credit. The granting of credit should be tied to technical clearance, by the Ministry of Fisheries, of site and pond construction plans. Credit should be granted at terms (particularly regarding interest payments) which make them at least as favourable to the recipient as present loans for agricultural land development. Loans for mollusc and seaweed cultures would be more short-term in nature, as would loans for cage culture.
The present Government policy of encouraging private enterprise could be applied to fingerling production for the seasonal tanks project. It is by no means certain that Government-run fish culture stations are best suited to cheap production of fingerlings. As long as there is not a market for fingerlings they are fairly certain of remaining the only ones. Government could itself set up an agency trading in fingerlings, with the right to purchase from the lowest bidder. It could, if some extension effort were made, be first applied to the development of a trade in tilapia, and possibly milkfish fry. It would seem quite likely that the cost of production for fry collected in the wild would be below that now incurred by Government for collection of milkfish fry. In the long run, such a policy should lead to the development of fry supplies, either from collections or from hatcheries operated privately or by communities for their own seasonal tanks.
