The European Union which had continued to warn Sri Lanka to halt its illegal methods of fishing imposing a ban on the purchase of fish and fishery products from Sri Lanka, it has been revealed that the export of fishery products from India and the Maldives through Sri Lanka has increased drastically.

As revealed to www.adaderanabiz.lk, vessels engaged in fishing under the Sri Lankan flag have exported their catches to the European Union under Sri Lankan Catch Certificates, the imposed ban is effective only on these Sri Lankan Catch Certificates.

Hence, certain Sri Lankan companies exporting fish to the EU now bring in the catches of the Indian and Maldivian vessels engaged in fishing under their Catch Certificates process and export them to the EU.

Though these companies have exported fish and fishery products in this manner before as well, with the EU ban on Sri Lanka this practice had reportedly increased rapidly.

The EU suspended the purchase of fishery products from Sri Lanka since 15 January this year as a protest to vessels under the Sri Lankan flag engaging in fishing in the Indian Ocean region without the necessary monitoring.

www.adareranabiz.lk learns that the new government is actively engaged in taking the necessary steps to set up a monitoring system and implement the EU recommendations.

While Sri Lanka exported around 1,500 tons of fishery products to the EU before the ban, some 50 per cent of the exports were to the EU countries and earned some USD 200 million annually.