Status of the Fishery in Mount Lavinia, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Mount Lavina has become popular due to its unique ecological and recreational qualities which is a
limited resource within the Colombo Metropolitan Area. But it also consists of a small fisher
community. However the scale of this community is still unknown. Therefore this project was
initiated to analyze and review the status of the fisher community in the area. The study was
conducted for a 4 month period in weekly intervals. Sociological survey was conducted to assess the
status of fishery while separate study conducted to identify the Bycatch species of beach seine fishery.
According to the results, there were a total 160 fishermen and 60 boats. Four different mesh sizes
were used and almost half of the fishermen used 6 mm size. The main targeted species were squids,
Caranx spp., Tuna spp., rock fishes and lobsters which depend on the season and the type of the net.
According to statistics, the daily salary ranged between Rs.500-15,000. Crew members were paid by
the boat owner and it deepened on the amount of catch and fuel prices. For the non-working days
crew members rely on other part time jobs. There were three traditional beach seines operated in the
area only in specific seasons (September-January). Study identified 52 species caught in the beach
seine fishery. Among them, 27 were Bycatch species. Most Bycatch species were puffers, sharks and
rays by weight. Most of them were discarded while others were sold to dry fish markets. Moreover
turtles and jellyfishes were recorded as non-fish Bycatch. The study is being continued as a long-term
by-catch study to evaluate the intensity of the Bycatch in traditional fishery

Keywords: Bycatch, Caranx species, Beach seine, Sociology survey, Sri Lanka