Japan’s ‘Tuna King’ and Sushi restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura who has already six fishing vessels operating under the Sri Lankan flag on international maritime waters around Sri Lanka is reportedly planning to add another 14 such vessels to his fleet.

Commenting on this, Fisheries Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said, “The fish netted by these vessels are exported through Sri Lanka. This enables us to earn foreign exchange. The more the vessels the more will be the foreign exchange.”

Kiyoshi Kimura owns a network of Sushi restaurants in Japan.

While fishing vessels from Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are already registered with Sri Lanka and are engaged in fishing on international waters around Sri Lanka, they too export their catches through Sri Lanka.

Though there are around 3,000 multi-day fishing vessels registered in Sri Lanka, only around 300 are engaged in deep sea fishing.