Sri Lankan Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne said they plan to increase the freshwater fish harvest by 10%, in keeping with the government's envisioned development efforts to achieve an economic growth of 10% fast.

 

Dr Senaratne said that there are about 26,000 hectares of inland water sources with fish in them. He said that they hoped to increase freshwater fish produce from the current 46,500 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes by 2013.

"We have set out a target of 64,000 tonnes to be achieved in keeping with the government's accelerated development efforts that seek to arrive at an economic growth of 10% in the next five years," he also said.

The fisheries sector is expected to play a major role in the process as it has to enhance its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from fisheries from 10% to 15%, the minister said. This calls for a 50% increase in fish production both from sea and freshwater fisheries, he explained.