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by Dr. Mala Amarasinghe,

Treasurer, Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (SLAFAR)

Conservation and management of natural resources had been primarily a function of the rulers of countries for time immemorial.

In ancient times, custodians of the forests, land, minerals and other biophysical resources were the kings and the protection of these resources were a primary obligation of the kings who are bound to perform this duty for the best interests of his countrymen.

With the advent of the colonialists, management of natural resources particularly forests and land which has indirect influence on the water and aquatic resources eventually passed onto colonial rulers.

By the time Sri Lanka gained independence, the responsibility of natural resource management rested on the respective State departments established for the purpose under the colonial rule. These departments subsequently were manned mostly by professionals trained in respective field, most often in universities in western countries.

They were expected to assist natural resource use policy making, development planning, implementation and research. Professionals trained in a variety of disciplines such as biology, ecology, management and economics are involved directly in the natural resources management of a country.

Professional associations came into being with the aim of reinforcing the recognition of respective professions as well as to protect the interests in their respective fields of specialisation.

Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (SLAFAR) was founded in 1994 with the aim of assisting the development of fisheries and aquatic resources development in Sri Lanka with their expertise and experience of the professionals in this sphere of interest. In June 2004 it held its 10th annual scientific sessions.

The membership has grown up to 200 during the past ten years and it extends over a large spectrum including university academics, researchers, fisheries biologists, fish pathologists, post-harvest technologists, ecologists, fish breeders, out-growers, aquaculturists, fishery economists, sociologists, resource managers and policy makers attached to various state, private, local and foreign research and development institutions. SLAFAR is also a recognised professional society in the Asian region and it is affiliated to the Asian Fisheries Society the association with the largest membership of fisheries and aquaculture professionals in Asia.

For the past decade SLAFAR has contributed the expertise of its membership to a number of national development endeavours.

Expert services rendered a shrimp farming industry particularly during its difficult hours of viral disease epidemics by disseminating knowledge and skills to contain the epidemic through workshops, awareness programmes and also by researching into control methods are noteworthy contributions.

Mechanisms available to bridge the gap between researchers, resource development planners, and ground-level implementing authorities are insufficient and most frequently those existent are marginally effective.

It is a frequent complain that the agendas of researchers most often do not address the problems of the grassroots. This is a situation arisen due to multiple factors, poor interaction with the communities and their real-life problems, insufficient finances and infra-structural support available.

Lack of a committed mission to fulfil, paves way to diffuse the interests and effort of its employees to the well being of the country and drives them to work for their own agendas that gain more benefits for themselves but not for the welfare of wider society.

It is a pleasure however, to realise that even under these unfortunate circumstances, there are sufficient examples to quote where dedicated research, including those pertinent of fisheries and aquatic resources that have produced fruitful outcome for the benefit of the people.

Unfortunately they either are not published hence become out of reach to the decision-makers in resource management or they are not considered at all for the purpose.

It is also a fact that policy makers and resources development and management planners rely more on recommendations of foreign consultants rather than the local researchers.

There is evidence that unheeded recommendations based on the discoveries by local scientists that subsequently have been 'rediscovered' by foreign consultants, have been accepted as good enough to base policies to manage local resources. SLAFAR perceives this state of affairs and it volunteers to offer their expertise to national aquatic resource development endeavours.

It is timely that the newly elected Government with their priorities in aquatic resources development, takes deliberate effort to harness the technical resources available with professional organisations such as SLAFAR to further aquatic resources development in Sri Lanka.

At this juncture it is of national importance to highlight SLAFAR's potential to contribute especially to policy formulation and development planning which can be directly diverted to strengthen Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resource's agenda for aquatic resource development in Sri Lanka.

SLAFAR organises its scientific session annually and this provides an avenue for local researchers to present their findings related to various disciplines of fisheries and aquatic resources research and development such as marine, brackishwater and freshwater fishery biology and management, aquaculture, aquatic ecology and post-harvest technology for fishery produce.

Dissemination of local research findings in aquatic resources sector had drawn very little attention before SLAFAR has embarked on the publication of Sri Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences (SLJAS). Eight volumes of the journal have already seen daylight since its inception in 1995 and the ninth volume is in print.

It has also been recognised as a widely circulated refereed journal that publishes research papers related to aquatic resources biology, development and management hence is included in the fisheries database. Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) of Information Department of the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Impact of the Journal in disseminating research findings of the local researchers is immense especially under the circumstances where opportunities available for local researchers to publish their research findings in international journals are slim.

This is a situation not merely arises due to sub standard contents presented in the research papers (general allegation against most researchers in Sri Lanka) but also because of the contents presented, despite its relevance and importance to local economies are of low interest in the global context, particularly to interests of the west.

Consequently most research findings never see daylight and become unavailable or the local resource development planner or the conservationist and it also results redundancy in research.

Publication of research findings in internationally reputed journals gain credibility for quality of research and hence a researcher's dream naturally, is to publish his/her research findings in international refereed journals and the selection of research topics to some extent is influenced by this state of affairs.

One of the criteria considered for promotion in the carrier of university academics and research scientists is the number of such research publications by the person concerned.

It is indeed a good measure to promote high quality research, nevertheless a tragedy as they become less available for the local users because only a few libraries will have these costly international journals. On the other hand there is limited provision available in the handful of local scientific journals to accommodate such publications.

Under these circumstances Sri Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences serves an effective conveyor of locally important scientific findings to local resource development planners and conservationists as well as to selected institutions abroad with interests in research on aquatic resources of Sri Lanka.

SLAFAR has diverted considerable effort into expanding public awareness on conservation and management issues pertinent to aquatic resources.

It has organised a considerable number of workshops, seminars and public talks on issues related to shrimp farming, ornamental fish culture, coastal resources conservation, inland fisheries development and management and transfer of post harvest technology to rural communities.

Political situation prevailed in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka has restricted SLAFAR's activities to the south.

The recent improvement in this respect has given SLAFAR to extend its series to the war-torn North and East. Adoption of scientific management options in fishery management in these parts of the country is still in infancy and the means available to disseminate knowledge and management skills to the field officers in the fisheries sector is minimal.

SLAFAR plans to extend its expertise to improve this state of affairs through a series of workshops to widen the awareness among ground staff involved in implementing fishery management programmes, community leaders, NGOs and CBOs involved in fishery sector and activities pertinent welfare of fishermen on 'conservation and management of coastal resources through community participation'.

Introduction of new concepts and tools for management of fisheries and aquatic resources is another important activity that SLAFAR ventures on.

Introduction of eco-labelling of fishery products is a novel approach used to promote environmentally friendly fisheries that will have least impact on other species, particularly in oceans.

Since there is a growing demand for eco-labelled fish products, Sri Lanka too may adopt this concept to maximise profit from fish exports. SLAFAR is in the process of organising a workshop with the expertise from the Marine Stewardship Council on assessing fisheries for eco-labelling and on methods of identifying candidate fisheries for certification.

This tool based on ecosystem approach in resource management would be a positive move towards managing fisheries with least impact on conservation of other marine life.

It is of utmost importance as at present with escalated enthusiasm for using local biophysical and human resources both skills and unskilled for national development, that effective mechanism are worked out by the State to tap the potential of professional societies like SLAFAR for the benefit of masses of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources that volunteered for the cause during the past decade looks forward for an avenue to be an effective partner in State mediated process in the development of fisheries and aquatic resources of Sri Lanka.

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