Browsing by Author "Wickramarathne, I.U."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Evaluation of Post-Harvest Quality Losses of Tuna Catch of Multiday Boats in Beruwala- Kalutara
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Amrin, A.H.M.; Wickramarathne, I.U.; Gunawardane, N.D.P.
    Fishery industry provides an important source of protein, livelihood for people and foreign earnings. Fish is a highly perishable food, requiring proper handling, processing and distribution, to be utilized in a cost effective and efficient manner. Physical losses, Biochemical losses and Economical losses are three major types of fish post-harvest quality losses that cause food insecurity, low income to fishers, processors and traders. So it is necessary to develop systematic, practical tools for assessing post-harvest losses. The study was focused on Tuna catch of Multiday (IMUL) fishing vessels at Beruwala fishery harbour in Kalutara district. Fishermen who operated multiday fishing vessels were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire to obtain the attitudes and opinion of fishermen regarding the quality control aspects of fishery activities in study area within the period of 8 weeks during 5.30 am to 8.30 am. The minimum sample size among these IMUL vessels was selected using “Likert scale (1932)” and “Moving Average” method, where the minimum sample size determined as the sample size achieved the stable mean in Likert scale. Organoleptic surveys were used to identify level of post-harvest losses. The post-harvest economic loss of the tuna fish was determined according to the market value. The weights of undamaged and damaged fish which are used to produce dry fish when landing were measured using the electronic platform balance. The weight of the salted harvest of tuna and tuna like fish species were, 54 kg of Thunnus albacares, 12,244 kg of Katsuwonus pelamis, and 69 kg of Auxis thazard. When consider the fish harvest: weight of the harvest per boat for yellow fin tuna is 199.65 kg, skipjack tuna 1515.19 kg, big eye tuna 0.01 kg, frigate tuna 6.10 kg and salted weights of the harvest per boat are 1.05 kg, 240.07 kg, and 1.35 kg and post harvest loss percentages are 0.53%, 15.84%, and 22.15% respectively for each fish species. When consider fish harvest for gear category, long line (LL), gill net (GN) , LL+GN and Others (other gears): total weight of harvest 3116 kg, 60000 kg, 23819 kg and 4443.5 kg per each gear category respectively. Total salted weight of harvest is 43 kg, 8882 kg, 3210 kg and 232 kg while estimated total income is Rs. 1,638,080/=: 15,226,325/=: 7,241,100/= and 1,068,530/= per each gear category respectively. Income loss percentage is recorded as 0.34%, 5.23%, 6.58% and 1.43% for each gear category respectively. The effect of above gear categories on total harvest, the total weight of trashed or damaged fish (used for salted) and the total actual revenue for the fish harvest of IMUL vessels sample was analyzed using Analysis of variance (ANOVA), (p < 0.05).It revealed, the gear categories significantly effect on total harvest, the total weight of trashed or damaged fish (used for salted) and the total actual revenue for the fish harvest of IMUL vessels. The level of fish post-harvest in Beruwala fishery harbor was determined by using sensory characteristics available in quality control division of DFAR. quality based on quality level. ANOVA analysis and results confirmed that the gear categories significantly contribute to the post-harvest economic loss by reducing the post-harvest quality of the tuna fish in Beruwala fishery harbour. Results of the study confirmed that there is no any quantitative loss in fish post-harvest.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Evaluation of the Response to the International Resolution on Responsible Fishing: A Case Study on the Fishermen of Beruwala- Kalutara on Evidence of IUU Fishing
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Madhushani, H. A.; Wickramarathne, I.U.; Jayamanne, S.C.; Gunawardane, N.D.P.
    Increasing international demand for fish and fishery product has resulted more fisheries activity in many parts of the world in recent years and IUU fishing methods are also used for fishing. So long term sustainability and responsibility of fish stocks are affected and responsible fishing as well. This has been internationally agreed and countries should make sure to avoid IUU fishing in their respecting fishing zones. Regional resolutions related to IUU fishing is developed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) an organization who is responsible for the international tuna fisheries activities in the Indian Ocean region. It is functioned for conserving, managing tuna fishery resources and reducing illegal, unregulated, unreported tuna fishing. Though these resolutions it is targeted to take the regional fishery industry to unique control level. Sri Lanka has to comply these resolutions as a member country of the IOTC. Fisheries sector is one of the most significant industries in Sri Lanka which contribute about 2.5% to the GDP. Fisheries production is significantly increased over the years and total export earnings for year 2012 are about 22 Billion Rupees. However, when consider Sri Lanka fishery sector several difficulties occurred regarding IUU fishing activities over the years. When considering the hierarchy of fishery community, fishermen especially the Multiday Fishermen who are operating in international waters have the ultimate responsibility to comply these resolutions. Therefore, awareness of fishermen on the international resolutions is important. In 2010, the compliance rate of IOTC resolutions in Sri Lanka was 18% and it was increased up to 47% in 2013. Most of the fisheries administrative and management measures were extreme lined in order to achieve that. However, it is learnt that evaluating attitude and awareness level of the fishermen on these resolutions is essential for the further improving of this level. Methodology Beruwala Fishery Harbor which is one of the main harbor of Sri Lankan multiday boat operations situated in the Kalutara District was selected for the study sienc the harbor facilitates number of fishery activities and most of the fishery stakeholders are benefited from the services. Sample was selected from multiday boat owners, skippers, crew members and other related fisheries service providers in the multiday fishing sector by the stratified random sampling technique. Minimum sample size was determined by “moving average method”. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were collected through the interviews and questionnaire. Secondary data were collected from Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Data were analyzed by “Likert method” to identify the level of agreement of the fishermen on several statements related to the responsible fishing and one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on 95% confidence interval was used to compare the results within strata.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Recent Trends of Small Meshed Gillnet Fishery in the West Coast of Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2013) Dissanayake, D.M.I.M.; Wickramarathne, I.U.; Haputhantri, S. S. K.
    Marine fish is the main animal protein source of Sri Lankan nation. With the increasing of the population, the demand for marine fish has been increased. The coastal subsector is the major contributor to the total marine fish production in Sri Lanka and small pelagic fish resources contributes in the coastal catch in a higher proportion. At present, coastal fishery resources of Sri Lanka have to be properly managed as in the case for most other marine fisheries in tropical developing countries. The fishing pressure on the coastal fish has increased and small pelagic fish in the coastal waters are subjected to high fishing pressure (Haputhantri, 2004). The increased fishing pressure on small pelagic resources has adversely impacted on the sustainable utilization of the resources. Therefore, for the sustainability of small pelagic precautionary measures should be addressed. The small pelagic are mostly harvested by small mesh gillnets. The present study aims to investigate the west coast small mesh gillnet fishery by using commercial gillnet fishery data in order to provide a platform for sustainable utilization of the resources. Methodology Catch and Effort data and information with regard to small mesh gillnet fishery operations such as spatial data (fishery districts, ports etc.), temporal data (year, month etc.) and operational data (fishing depth, true fishing time etc.) which were collected by NARA Marine Biological Resources Division from the west coast (Chilaw, Negombo and Kalutara fisheries districts) for the period 2000 – 2011 was used for present study. Also, information was obtained by interviewing the enumerators of small pelagic fishery data collection programme of NARA. The data used for this audit was confined to the Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) boats since small pelagic fish are mostly captured in the west coast by FRP boats. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel and Minitab 14 Statistical Software. Results and Discussion Three types of coastal vessels (i.e. non mechanized traditional crafts, mechanized traditional crafts and Fibre Reinforced Plastic boats referred as FRP boats) are operated in the west coast gillnet fishery. Traditional non-mechanized crafts are usually operating in shallow coastal waters within the 5 m to 25 m depth range whereas FRP boats are frequently operating within 15 to 60m depth range. The engine power of a FRP boat may vary between 10 to 30 hp, but most frequently used range is 15 and 25 hp. The total number of FRP boats in the west coast has considerably increased replacing traditional boats which possessing better facilities (high holding capacity, ability to access in the deeper waters etc.) when compared with traditional crafts. According to the study, around 60% of total fishing effort on coastal pelagic resources in the study area in terms of number of boat days is provided by small meshed gillnets along. In addition, around 28% of total fishing effort is provided by small meshed gillnet and hand line gear combination. A wide range of mesh sizes are being used in the commercial gillnet fishery but, small meshed gillnets with mesh sizes between 1″ (25.4 mm) to 2″ (50.8 mm) are widely used by FRP boats in the west coast targeting small pelagic. Gillnets with mesh sizes ranging from 9/10″ (22.86 mm) to 1½″ (38.1 mm) are frequently used for catching clupeids including Ambligaster sirm, Sardinella longiseps, Sardinella albella, etc. Smaller mesh sizes bellow 9/10″ (22.86 mm) are normally used in the west coast for catching Stolephorus spp. One fishing trip per day normally takes place in the west coast. The duration of one fishing trip varies between 3 to 8 hours and the duration for which gillnet in operation is normally 0.5 to 3 hours. There is a slight increment in the true fishing time (the time which gillnets are actually operated) for the period considered under this study. Accordingly, it seems that fishermen tend to stay more time at the sea for searching and capturing fish. In the west coast, FRP boats are operated in a wide depth range, where it may vary between 5 to 90m. Depth of fishing has been varied between 14 to 32m during the period of 1983 to 1984 (Karunasinghe and Fonseka, 1985). Further, the depth of fishing has been varied between 6 to 70m during the period of 1995 to 1997 (Karunasinghe et al., 2000). According to the present study, the fishing depth range has become much wider and boats trend to go and fish in deeper waters. Moreover, an increasing trend in the average depth of fishing in the west coast was observed for 2000-2011 period. Number of gillnet pieces used per gillnet operation was 9 to 24 during the period 1995- 1997(Karunasinghe et al., 2000). However, this has considerably increased now upto3 to 42 gillnet pieces of gillnets per fishing operation per FRP boat. A clear increasing trend in the gillnet usage was observed for 2000-2011 period. In general the best fishing season in the west coast is at the latter part of the south west monsoon and higher catches are obtained in August and September &The period of January to March is considered as the lean fishing season according to the fishery data collected by NARA. The major target fish group in small pelagic fishery in the west coast is clupeids. In general, this group includes Ambligaster sirm and Sardinella spp. Ambligaster sirm is the dominant species in the catch over the considered period of time and it provides around 46% of the total catch in the west coast. The contribution of each sardine species individually is relatively lower (i.e.Sardinellagibbosa-11%, Sardinella longiseps- 9%, Sardinella albella - 6% and Sardinella sindensis- 0.0008%) However, as a group these species are very important since they contribute around 26%in the total catch. Since there is a considerable variation in the number of net pieces used in the study area CPUE was computed in two ways: CPUE in terms of catch in kilogram per boat per day basis and CPUE in terms of catch in kilogram per net piece per day basis. The annual CPUE in terms of kilogram per net piece per day has varied on a range of 2 to 3.5 kg/net piece/day and a clear declining trend in the CPUE in terms of kilogram per net piece per day was observed. CPUE in terms of kilogram per boat per day seemed to have fluctuated from 2000 to 2011 in arrange of 40-70 kg/boat/day. Since there is a reduction in the CPUE in terms of kilogram per net piece per day, fishermen tend to use more net pieces to increase their catch per boat.