Minister assures to end dynamite fishing in Mannar seas:

Killed dugongs to be displayed at museum

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratna yesterday said he is determined to put an absolute end to dynamite fishing in the seas off Mannar which killed two rare dugongs, while the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) is preparing them for public display at a national museum.

Meanwhile, NARA scientists are to perform autopsies on the two marine mammals. Their carcasses are preserved in deep freezers at the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation in Colombo, before they become museum specimen.

NARA Chairman Dr Hiran Jayewardena said the autopsy results are expected by the end of next week. The fishermen responsible for killing the animals are in remand custody. Fisheries Minister Senaratna has ordered a full scale investigation into the dugong killing and the disposition of fish dynamiting in Mannar, he said.

Minister Senaratna said he has received many reports confirming that blast fishing or dynamite fishing is taking place in Mannar despite it being illegal.

"We have also received information that some fishermen in Mannar are in the practice of killing these mammals," he said.

Dugongs, also known as sea cows are rare species protected under local and international law.

"We will not allow this to happen," he said.

Referring to the dead dugongs, he said looking at the size of their bodies and their weight, one can say they were 20 to 30 years old.

"It takes a long time for them to reach this size and the weight," he said. The two killed were fully grown dugongs, a female and a male. The weight of the female is about 545 kilos and the male 480 kilos," the Minister said.

Senaratna said he will stop the practice of dynamiting fish in Mannar permanently as he stopped it in the Trincomalee district with the support of the Navy. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, Dugongs are vulnerable and endangered globally.

They have been protected by the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance Act No 1, 1970 for several decades in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is also a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of wild fauna and flora.

Asked why they were going to arrange a display of the mammals, NARA Chairman Dr Jayewardena asked, "who has seen a dugong?"

"I have not seen one since 1980s. They will be kept as museum specimen at NARA museum or some other national museum for future generations," he added.