Fishing is a key economic activity in the Northern Province. More than 35,000 families across Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, and Mannar districts depend on fishing as their primary source of livelihood and animal protein intake. Prior to the onset of the civil war in the 1980s these districts collectively accounted for nearly 35 percent of the daily island-wide catch.

However, presently, the Northern Province fisheries sector is beset by serious challenges even as it recovers after the decades long civil war which displaced entire fishing communities and destroyed their equipment and infrastructure.

Fishermen who toil in trying conditions find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of debt and servitude to powerful middlemen who have monopolised the fishing business in the region. Fisheries cooperatives which can benefit the larger fishing community are sidelined from trading by private sector seafood processing companies that insist upon operating through their network of established middlemen. Moreover, outdated post-harvest practices i.e. fish handling between net and processing plant of local fishermen degrades the value of the catch. In addition to poaching by Indian fishermen, bottom trawling continues unabated in many parts of the north despite the government ban on this destructive practice possibly jeorpardising the long term sustainability of the sector.

In this context, a Tech Ceylon Social Ventures director recently accompanied a group of independent researchers working on fisheries in the Northern Province to Spakenburg, the largest seafood importing location in the Netherlands.

Members of the delegation undertook a fruitful visit to one of the seafood processing facilities in Spakenburg and met key stakeholders in the seafood business.

Tech Ceylon looks forward to working closely with these individuals to further strengthen the Northern Province fisheries sector – particularly with respect to adopting the relevant Dutch technical expertise.

Discussion with stakeholders.

Waiting outside of the FishPartners-owned processing facility

Fish, dead.

Inside the processing facility.