Participatory Approach to Fishing

Crafts Building in Post Tsunami Scenario

ByErwin Rahanaweera & Jayantha Gunasekara

Participatory Approach to Fishing Crafts Building in Post Tsunami Scenario

AbstractSri Lanka being an island, fishing has become an industry for many years. Fish production contributes to the total animal protein consumed in Sri Lanka by 65%. Total fishing landings in Sri Lanka prior to the Tsunami was 280,000 t of which 90% was consumed in Sri Lanka, whereas 10 % was exported. However, to meet with increasing local per capita fish consumption, 70,000 t of dried and canned fish is imported to Sri Lanka (Fisheries Strategy Document of MFAR 2005). Given the statistics, the biggest contribution of the fish production is recoded from the marine fishery coastal (inshore fishery), which is in fact small scale fishery, whereas the off shore fishery (mainly focusing on large pelagic fishery) contribution is still less. There were mainly 12 fishing harbors and 700 fish landing centers being operated in Sri Lanka.

As for the development trends in the fisheries sector, it is fairly noticeable that the number of coastal fishing fleet increased since 1984.FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced plastic) boats have shown a significant increase from 6,882 to 11,559 in 2005 (L. Joseph 2006), whereas motorized traditional crafts and beach seine crafts have shown a considerable decrease. Above all, the off shore fishing fleets show the most tremendous expansion in terms of 70 fishing fleet to 1500 fishing fleet in 2005 as far as the last 10 years is concerned.

The marine fish production has increased according to the statistical unit of MFAR; it is 57,457 t in 1960 and reached up to 167,412 t in 1980. Due to the onset of the ethnic conflict, the fish production from the north and east was disrupted resulting in a production of a 145,798 t in 1990. Yet, the small scale fishery accounts for nearly 65 % of total national fish production in Sri Lanka . So, except for a few fishing operations of privet firms, fishing in Sri Lanka are largely small scale.

The tsunami waves that hit Sri Lanka on the 26th December 2004 have decimated coastal fishing communities. They have not only been affected by loss or substantial damage to their shelter, but also to fishing vessels and fishing gear. It is estimated that one third of affected households were those of fisher folk. In some districts, it turned out to be far higher, for example in Jaffna district the figure is close to 90% of fisher folk. A total of 4,870 fisher folk were reported dead while 136 were reported missing. Small scale fishing communities are among the poorest communities in the country and their livelihoods have been decimated.

The immediate steps adopted in order to restore fisheries sector back was to replace and repair fishing gear and fishing crafts. It proved that replacing and repairing fishing gear and crafts is a very complex task, seeing that a wide variety of fishing crafts and gear is practiced in sea with location specifications in conformity with the local sea conditions and etc. Fisher folk from each area show their own specifications, likes and dislikes on the types of the fishing gear and fishing crafts required. Consequently, it inevitably became necessary that replacing and repairing fishing vessels requires the participation of the fisher folk so as to identify their requirements in post tsunami rehabilitation context. On the contrary, well meaning organizations and the government organizations replaced fishing gear and crafts without having dialogues and consultation with the fisher folk, resulting in a production of 26% of fishing vessels replaced are un-seaworthy and given only the number of the traditional crafts replaced it could be 40%.

The project “Rebuilding Fisheries Livelihood in post Tsunami” of Practical Action (formerly know as ITDG South Asia) was implemented with a participatory approach to building fishing vessels, where the participation of the fisher communities and district fisheries extension (DFEO) is ensured and encouraged all through the beneficiary selection to the completion of the fishing vessels, with a view to taking the needs, likes and dislikes on the type of fishing vessels required by the fisher folk into consideration in order that a fishing vessel which is suitable for the local conditions of a particular fishing landing site, be produced.

Participatory approach to building and repairing fishing vessels ensures that fishermen needs, likes, specifications and dislikes on the types of fishing vessels they require is met, leading to a production of seaworthy, fishermen preferred, location specific fishing vessels. In addition, participatory beneficiary selection involving all stakeholders in a fishing community and others decreases the potentiality for giving rise to internal conflicts and corruption among fisher communities, in the end leading to a selection of genuine beneficiaries.

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Introduction

Sri Lanka being an island, fishing has become an industry for many years. Marine fisheries is of highly important in terms of social and economic aspects in the coastal line of 1,585 km (Baldwin, 1991), consisting of sandy beaches, extensive lagoons, estuaries, mangroves, coastal marshes and dunes (Picture 1). In year 2003, coastal fishery contributed to the nearly two percent to the gross domestic production in Sri Lanka (Central Bank Report, 2003). The sector has provided direct employment to 300,000 fishermen and all in all, it has provided direct and indirect employment to a number of one million people in Sri Lanka (Fishery Strategy Document, 2005 MFRA).

Further, fishing industry became a foreign exchange earner for the country, contributing by 100 U$S million to the international markets by exporting fish products such as tuna, shrimp, lobster and ornamental fish, etc. in the year 2003. Fish production contributes to the total animal protein consumed in Sri Lanka by 65%. Total fishing landings in Sri Lanka prior to the Tsunami was 280,000 t of which 90% was consumed in Sri Lanka, whereas 10 % was exported. However, to meet with increasing local per capita fish consumption, 70000 t of dried and canned fish is imported to Sri Lanka (Fishery Strategy Document, 2005 MFRA).

Picture 1: Marine zones of Sri Lanka within and beyond EEZ

Table 1: National Fish Production (1985-2004 in tons)

1985 1990 1995 2000 2004Marine Fishery Coastal 140 270 134 130 157 500 175 280 154 470

Off shore 2 400 11 670 60 000 84 400 98 720Total 142 670 145 800 217 500 259 680 253 190

Inland Fishery 32 740 38 190 18 250 36 700 33 180Total Production 175 410 183 990 235 750 296 380 286 370

Source: MFAR Statistical Unit, 2005

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Given the statistics Table 1 the biggest contribution of the fish production is recoded from the marine fishery coastal (inshore fishery), which is in fact small scale fishery, whereas the off shore fishery (mainly focusing on large pelagic fishery) contribution is still less. Further, brackish water aquaculture production, mainly shrimp contribution is 2400 t in 2004 (MFAR Statistical Unit, 2004). There were mainly 12 fishing harbors and 700 fish landing centers being operated around the coastal belt of Sri Lanka.

Development Trends in the Fisheries Sector

Given the development trends in the fisheries sector (Table 2), it is fairly noticeable that the number of coastal fishing fleet increased since1984. FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced plastic) boats have shown a significant increase from 6,882 to 11,559 in 2005 (L. Joseph, 2006), whereas motorized traditional crafts and beach seine crafts have shown a decrease. Above all, the off-shore fishing fleets show the most tremendous expansion during the last 10 years, from 72 to 1500 in number.

Table 2. Fishing vessels development trend in Sri Lanka

Fishing Vessels Type 1984 1990 1995 2000 2004Non motorized Traditional Crafts 13,171 14,580 14,649 15,109 15,260Motoriesed Traditional Crafts 3,861 973 1,060 1,404 675FRP boats (6-7 m) 6,882 9,758 8,564 8,690 11,5593 ½ ton boats (28ft) 2,718 2,364 1,357 1,470 1,493Offshore multi-day boats (34-50 ft) 72 1,639 1,430 1591Beach seine crafts (22-31 ft) 1261 1052Totals 27,965 27,675 27,269 29,003 31,619

Source: MFAR Statistical Unit, 2005

The marine fish production has increased according to the statistical unit of MFAR; it is 57,457 t in 1960 and reached up to 167,412 t in 1980. Due to the onset of the ethnic conflict, the fish production from the north and east was disrupted resulting in a production of a 145,798 t in 1990. Yet, the increase of fish production in recent years should be attributed to the rapid development of the offshore fishery in Sri Lanka, which mainly developed in south and west, resulting in a fish production of 259,680 t and 274,760 t in year 2000 and 2002 respectively. All in all, major portion of the fish production is from the coastal fishery, which is mainly small scale fishery of Sri Lanka. As it is, the small scale fishery accounts for nearly 65 % of total national fish production in Sri Lanka.

Tsunami and Fisheries Sector

The Sri Lankan coast was one of the heaviest impacted areas in the region on the 26 th

December 2004. More people died in Sri Lanka as a result of the tsunami than anywhere else, apart from Indonesia. The tsunami caused severe damage to coastal communities in twelve of the fourteen coastal districts in the country (Picture 2). Especially the fishing communities were hard hit by loss of lives and destruction of their infrastructure; the ten most affected fisheries districts of the country account for over 81 percent of total marine landings. Furthermore, records show that more than half of the national fish resources are found in the southern and north-eastern coastal areas. Altogether, these factors emphasize the need for special assistance for fisheries both on social and economic grounds. Damages to the fisheries sector can be mainly categorized in the following sections.

Fishing Communities: A total of 4870 were reported dead while 136 were reported missing. The number of houses of fishers and their families destroyed and damaged has been enumerated as 16 434 and 13 329 respectively (MFAR Statistical Unit).

Fishing Vessels: According to government assessments, about three fourth of the fishing fleet of 32 000 boats were either made un-seaworthy by Tsunami (about 23 percent) or was

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totally destroyed (about 54 percent). The cost of boat and fishing gear repair and replacement is estimated at approximately US$ 57 million (MFAR Statistical Unit).

Table 3, fishing vessels destroyed in Tsunami

Estimate of Fishing Vessels Destroyed and DamagedFishing Vessel Type Destroyed Damaged Total Des/Dam.

Multi-day boat 187 676 863One day boat 276 783 1059FRP boat 4485 3211 7696Traditional craft 11165 2435 13600Beach seine craft 818 161 979

Total 16931 7266 24197

Source: FAO, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Sri Lanka

Harbors and Anchorages: Extensive damage has been caused to 10 fisheries harbours, 37 anchorages and around 200 landing sites as well as to the associated fish handling facilities, fishery co-operative buildings and vehicles in the affected areas. Additional damage has been caused to marine structures, including displacement of breakwater rock boulders, fuel tanks, pumps and distributor systems, slipways and boat repair yards. The cost estimates for damages to the harbours, anchorages and landing sites is around US$ 65 million.

Picture 2. Coastal areas and fishery harbours affected by the tsunami

Coastal Environment including aquaculture: Due to the waves penetrated on average 0.5 kilometers, impacting the downstream parts of the main agricultural areas. The shoreline were severely disrupted, eroded and covered with debris along stretches of the coastline. Sand and sediment washed from land have deposited in the near shore area and this has particularly has had an impacted on the reef lagoons. The effects of the waves in low-lying areas and along creeks and inlets penetrated up to 2 kilometers from the shoreline. Among the coastal habitats being very important for fishery productivity, coral reefs and mangroves seem to have suffered at varying levels as a result of the tsunami (Fisheries Strategy Document of MFAR, 2005).

The coral formations that are habitats and breeding grounds for some fish species were damaged by debris (wood, fishing nets, etc.). Although, it can be assumed that there are

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impacts such as loss of breeding and nursery habitats of species such as parrot-fishes (Scaridae), snappers (Lutjanidae) and sweet-lips (Haemulidae), detailed coral reef damage assessments will be necessary (Fisheries Strategy Document of MFAR, 2005).Loss of Fish Production: When considered against the estimated fish catch of 287 000 t in 2004, the estimated loss of 117 532 t is equivalent to a reduction of 40 percent in 2005. With imports and exports in 2004 recording 67 000 t and 13 700 t respectively, and a mid-year national population of 19.1 million, the lost production would cause a drop in the per capita availability of fish for consumption from 17.4 kg in 2004 to 11.7 kg in 2005, if not offset by reduced exports and/or increased imports.

Table 4: Estimated loss in fish production 2005

Estimated Loss in Fish Production 2005 Tons

Production Loss due to DS Boats 86 066

Production Loss due to DM Boats 25 323

Production Loss due to lost gear1 6 143

Total 117 532

Source from Strategy Document, MFRA, 2005

Problem

To restore fisheries back in post Tsunami Rehabilitation requires crafts, boats, engines, and nets. Many fishers use several fishing crafts and gear to catch different species. In particular, coastal fishery in Sri Lanka is characterized with multi-gear and multi-species; the use of a variety of fishing gear targeting at a large number of species In sea, fishing vessels include diverse types of traditional and large scale fishing crafts such as, a small craft (theppam and Kattumaram) wooden dug out or fiberglass canoes (oru), fiberglass day boat with outboard and inboard engines and multi-day boats with inboard engines. In addition, wade fishing takes place using cast nets, and beach seining in which a large net is pulled in from the shore. Other types of fishing gear include drift nets, pole and line (for tuna), trammel nets, hand lines, long line, purse seines, push nets etc.

This wide variety of fishing vessels and gear suggest that replacing lost equipment is a complex task that inevitably requires the participation and the dialogue with the affected fisher communities. Participation of the fisher communities in terms of having a consultative process and dialogues with them to identify their needs, likes and specifications on the type of fishing vessels required.

On the contrary, participation of the fisher folk in the fishing vessels replacements and repairing was quite hardly taken into account in the current post Tsunami scenario, resulting in production of un-sea worthy fishing crafts that can not be operated in sea.

Participatory Approach to fishing crafts replacing

The project “Rebuilding Fisheries Livelihood in post Tsunami” by Practical Action, (formerly known as ITDG South Asia) was implemented with a participatory approach to rebuilding fishing vessels in post Tsunami, where the participation of the fisher communities and district fisheries extension (DFEO) is ensured and encouraged all through the beneficiary selection to the completion of the construction of the fishing vessels, with a view to taking the needs, likes and dislikes on type of fishing vessels required by the fisher folk into consideration in order that a fishing vessel which is suitable for the local conditions of a particular fishing landing site, be produced.

1 The assumed loss in production due to lost gear takes into consideration the mean annual catch per unit effort (CPUE) in each boat category for previous years, as provided by the Statistical Unit/MFAR. No adjustment has been made for a possible increase in CPUE at lower level of fishing effort.

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The participatory approach to fishing vessel building can be divided into three steps to obtain a closer and better examination into the process.

1. Beneficiary selection2. Identification of the type of fishing vessel required3. Construction of the fishing vessel and handing over

In the beneficiary selection process, to begin with, the list of names of the beneficiaries is obtained by the relevant district fisheries extension office. This list is verified and cross checked with the fisher community, including all the stakeholders in the community. All the stakeholders include not only the fishing crafts owner, meaning that multi-day boat owner, day boat owner, traditional craft owner, mechanized traditional crafts owner, but also the full and part time fisher workers (men and women), full and part time fisher wo/men, fish processors and so on. Further, it is ensured that Fisheries Inspector, GN officer, fisheries societies or cooperative heads participate in the beneficiary selection meeting in the community. When the names are announced, the fisher community verifies them, since they know by experiences who were the persons who had fishing crafts and gear in pre-Tsunami. It is rather noticeable that in these types of open discussions are not dominated by one party since it consists of the entire stakeholders in a fisher community.

Such open meetings or discussions are called upon through the posters pasted around the fisher community by the facilitation organization. In the end, usually the beneficiary list is amended with including or excluding some more names, while reaching a common consensus on the list. Finally, the list is submitted again through the Fisheries Inspector to the District Fisheries Extension Office for approval.

Upon the receipt of the approval from the district fisheries extension office, identification of the type of the fishing vessel required is done with the fisher community, where it is encouraged that the fisher community comes up with the specifications of the required fishing crafts. In doing so, fisherwo/men usually come up with the facts suchlike the breath, length and height of the fishing crafts and some even draw it. At this juncture, it is quite noticeable that the participation of the fisher community is tremendously high in terms of providing information pertaining to the design of the fishing vessel. One successful way to identify their required fishing craft is to mobilize the fisher community to collect the damage parts of the fishing crafts they had and help them make a dummy of the one they had in pre-Tsunami, which they do quite enthusiastically. Or the other way is to have the fisher folk drawing it. Both ways prove to encourage the participation of the fisher folk into the task of showing their requirements, likes and dislikes of the way their fishing craft should be. In the end, it is evident that they are quite satisfied with the exercise of making the dummy or drawing design of the fishing craft.

A formal design is prepared on the dummy or the drawing done with the fisher folk to submit it to the Marine Engineer of the DFEO for his approval. On his approval, the construction process begins with training of fisher folk on fiber glass boat building. A fishing craft mould is built based on the dummy or the design while training process is going on. Usually, it takes about two and half weeks to three weeks to finales the construction of fishing craft mould. When it is completed, building fishing crafts begin. Usually, fisher folk being trained, take over the construction of the fishing crafts, under the supervision of Practical Action. All through the construction of fishing crafts, fisher folk are encouraged their in kind contribution it terms of food, and tea supplement for those who are building fishing crafts.

When all the fishing crafts are completed building, they are registered under the MFAR through the relevant DFEO. On registration, finally fishing vessels are handed over to the selected fisher folk.

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Results and Discussion

Choice of fishing crafts is of paramount importance to fisher folk. Experienced fishermen have their own specifications on the types of fishing crafts they require, so a standard design of a fishing craft should be based on a through analysis of the fishermen’s needs, likes and dislikes, which in turn reflect the local sea condition, type of wind available, geographical location of a landing site and the type of fishing practices they are accustomed to in a particular fisher community. In other words, a standard design of a fishing craft differs from one fishing landing center to the other, being much more location specific or landing center specific, depending on the factors such like, the local sea condition, type of wind ,the geographical location and etc. Participatory approach to building and repairing fishing crafts ensures that fishermen needs, likes, specifications and dislikes on the types of fishing crafts they require is met, leading to a production of sea worthy, fishermen preferred, location specific fishing crafts.

Providing unsuitable or un-seaworthy fishing crafts can result in loosing the confidence of fisherman to go fishing, after all. This scenario has been the result of the lack of fisher folk consultation to identify their needs, and priorities in the post Tsunami rehabilitation process. Besides, there are no standards in place to build fishing crafts in Sri Lanka in a disaster context

On beneficiary selection, involving all stakeholders in fisher community is of considerable importance, because a fisher community (fishing households) is highly stratified both horizontally and vertically. As per horizontal stratification, it is in keeping with the types of fishing vessels, such as “no craft”, “unmechanized traditional lagoon canoe”, “unmechanized traditional marine canoe” “mechanised traditional marine canoe” “mechanised boat with OBM2”, “mechanised one day boats with IBM”, and “mechanised multi-day boats with IBM3”. In the vertical stratification context, there are about 8 categories engaged in fishing, which are part time fishermen and fisherwomen, part time fisher workers, full time fisher workers, full time fishermen and women, individual boat owners, commercial boat owners, local and whole sale fish traders and fish processor. On conducting the beneficiary selection with all the stakeholders above mentioned and representatives from the district fisheries extension office and representatives from the local administration; GN officers, in a participatory manner leads to less misunderstanding, less conflicts and less political influences and in the end a selection of the genuine beneficiaries for fishing crafts and gear replacements

Giving fishing crafts to non-beneficiaries leads to imbalance of the existing power structures (traditional fishing rights) of fisher communities and weaken the social acceptance of the fisher folk among their communities, which leads to both social conflicts and a tremendous impact on fish resources with user conflicts. On the contrary, participatory beneficiary selection approach empowers the fisher community in terms of securing their traditional fishing rights and creating a sense of ownership in fisher folk towards the fish resource.

Conflict sensitivity in terms of tension existing between different casts and different ethnic groups need to be taken into account in implementing participatory exercises with fisher communities. Coastal fishery in Sri Lanka is characterized by multi-gear and multi-species, consequently, leading to a variety of fishing gear being operated, targeting at a large number of species. Therefore, there are groups, using illegal and environmental harmful fishing gear in this context. Lack of conflict sensitivity approach to participatory exercise can worsen the existing user group conflicts or lead to generation of new user groups conflicts.

Participatory fishing vessels building encourages fishermen’s confidence in fishing with the production of fishermen preferred, location specific, above all the production of seaworthy fishing vessel. Since fisher folk involvement is ensured all through the

2 Out boat motor3 In boat motor

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process, confidence and enthusiasm to be back in fishing increases in a post disaster context, whereof the fisher folk are in disappointed and discouraged scenario.

Participatory exercises such as such as this, can lead to a unity among communities, paving the way for other team based (participatory) activities to lead on. Community participation in fisheries management in the Fisheries Aquatic Resources Act No.02 1996 have not had much success due to village and ethnic bias, socio and political pressure and non participatory approaches weakened community based fisheries management initiatives.

Case Study

When the right boat made the difference!

In an enthusiasm to help, it is often taken for granted that whatever is being given to the community is what they require. Read to know why working with community and taking into consideration their needs is imperative?

As the first rays of sunlight lit the sky, Somasiri, a middle-aged trader of fish and prawns, standing near the small Panama lagoon landing site, glanced through his purchase with satisfaction.’ I am happy that life is coming back to normal’, mumbled a fellow trader. Somasiri nodded in response, as he knew what his friend meant. When the surging waves of tsunami had engulfed their canoes-the only means of livelihood; an eerie silence, intercepted by the muffled wails was the only sound that could be heard in this small village. Thankfully, seven months after the tragedy, they were once again able to hear the usual hustle-bustle of fishermen manoeuvring the canoes into the lagoon. But, these seven months have taught them a lot.

Rebuilding life after having lost everything is indeed an uphill task, which these fishermen realised the hard way. Tsunami brought life to a standstill, as almost all of the 40 lagoon canoes owned by the villagers; along with the fishing gears were destroyed. Besides, ‘Panama is a sparsely developed village of Ampara district, and is largely inhabited by fishing community, who are both lagoon as well as sea fishermen’, says Mr Boyagoda, the Panama fishing inspector. He adds that almost 80 of these fishermen, and even some women, prefer to fish in Panama lagoon because it is a huge water body spread across 450 ha, and is quite famous for its shrimp.

A hand-holding that didn’t help

Fortunately, immediately after tsunami, a relief organization found this group of people and decided to provide them with some lagoon canoes and fishing gears, so that livelihoods could be restored. But as luck would have it, the organization was not able to fulfil the needs of all the fishermen, and only a few could be given the fibre glass canoes. Those who received canoes felt fortunate and immediately resumed fishing. But they soon realised that fishing in those canoes was once again a risk to their lives because the lagoon was infested with crocodiles of approximately 13 feet average length. And experience made them realise that there was a strong possibility of the canoe’s being capsized by these crocodiles.

To make things worse, it was also realised that the height of the canoe was more than their knees, and they were not able to cast the nets in the water. Consequently, the initial euphoria of ‘getting a canoe’ evaporated in thin air. They not only had to give in fishing in the lagoon, but it was also realised that the time tested canoe specifications that have been evolved over the years was the best type of canoe for them.

Help, but with a difference!

At this juncture, ITDG started its fisheries project activities in Panama and decided to build 40 lagoon canoes destroyed by Tsunami. ITDG team received the beneficiaries list from the District Fisheries Extension office (DEFO). Subsequently, it was verified

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and cross-checked with an open community meeting with the lagoon fishermen, where in they were made aware of the ITDG’s approach to building canoes.

As the beneficiary selection was done in open forums, there was clarity, transparency, better team work and far less misunderstandings and conflicts among the community.

Once the beneficiaries were selected, ‘Initial discussions were held with the community to understand the type of canoe best suited to the needs and specifications of lagoon fishermen’, says Liyanage, ITDG Project Officer, Fisheries. Enthused by the new approach, the fishermen brought some damaged canoes, which were used by them before tsunami. And, together the most preferred damaged canoe was chosen, which was then repaired by the community under the technical guidance of ITDG staff. ‘Four fishermen were also trained in this process’, adds Liyanage.

There on, the design specifications of the repaired canoe were sent to DFEO for government marine engineer’s approval. Upon approval, based on the same specifications, the mould of the canoe was produced.

Subsequently, all the 40 lagoon canoes were constructed on the basis of this mould. The finance for this activity was arranged by ITDG, where in the community chipped in with labour and food. Finally, three months of hard work paid off when the first batch of fishermen were handed over the newly constructed canoes in an opening ceremony.

‘It was indeed a win-win situation for all’ says Erwin Rathnaweera, ITDG Project Manager, Fisheries. He further adds, ‘the whole process of taking the community along, understanding their concerns, and making full use of their experience gave immense confidence to the community. Besides, it was a great learning experience for us too. We realised that in fisheries rebuilding process two things are of extreme importance: the appropriate identification of the beneficiaries, and giving or procuring seaworthy boats, or canoes, that the fishing community finds apt’. Though, ITDG has moved on to help many others like Panama fishermen, what the community and the organization learned in this hand-holding will always remain imprinted in their memory.

Recommendations

Policy Level

Establishment of guidelines and standards for the construction of fishing vessels with incorporating the participatory approach to fishing vessel building being part of it or an amendment in Section 15, part iii, of the Fisheries Act no. 02, 1996, in order to make fishing vessel building a participatory, location and community preference specific process, irrespective of the context and circumstances.

Institutional Level

Capacity building of the students at different educational levels, in the incorporation of participatory and community specific approaches to fishing vessel building, as given below:

- for National Institute of Fisheries Nautical Engineering students.- for university level degree and diploma programs on Fisheries Biology and

Economics, especially in fishing vessels and gear curriculum. - for Marine Biology Technology students at national ordinary and advance levels.

Research and studies undertaken by NARA (National Aquatic Resources Research & Development Agency) to regard traditional, location–specific, community needs and preferences as a basis for new innovations, and to design a phased-wise community participatory testing approach for the fishing vessels designs.

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Community Level

Build the capacities of fisher folk in terms of fisheries cooperatives, societies, fishing resource management authorities or fishing clusters in building and rearing their fishing vessels through having them trained on fiber fishing vessel building technology.

To adopt a mechanism to establish a community based (community consultative and participatory) data collection (number of fishermen, fishing vessels, fishing gear with all the location specifications in each fish landing centre, anchorage, harbour and lagoons, with a regular recording of fish production data) methodology.

References

Baldwin, M. F. 1991. Coastal and Marine Resources. In Natural Resources of Sri Lanka: Conditions and Trends. Chapter 11. A report prepared for the natural resources energy and science authority of Sri Lanka. Keells Business Systems Ltd., Education Centre-Uni Walker Packaging Ltd., Colombo. 237-257pp.

Fernando, T. P.A., 2005, Impact of Tsunami on Coastal Fisheries and Future Developments. In Economic Review volume 31, Number 1-4

Gunawardene, M.H. 1994. Current issues of fisheries project design. In Report and Proceedings of the Sri Lanka/FAO national workshop on Development of community-based fishery management (Morris, M. J., Hotta, M. and Atapattu, A. R., eds.), Bay of Bengal Programme for Fisheries Management: Report No. 72. 218-227pp.

Joseph, L. 2006, Some Issues and Challenges in Fisheries Sector Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in Livelihood in Post Tsunami Sri Lanak “Building Better Back”? Research Studies: Working Paper No.10

Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, 2005, Strategy and Programme for Reconstruction and Development of the Marine Fisheries Sector

Steve Creech, 2006, Tsunami Issues Affecting Fishing Communities and Challenges to be Addressed if “Build Better Back” is to contribute towards Sustainable Livelihood Development in Livelihood in Post Tsunami Sri Lanka “Building Better Back” ? Research Studies: Working Paper No.10.

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