Sri Lanka is surveying the financial burn that comes with being blacklisted by the European Union – according to a spokeswoman, the island nation has taken a revenue hit of USD 75 million (EUR 68 million) since January, when the EU placed a ban on fish caught by Sri Lankan vessels.
Once a prominent exporter of swordfish and tuna – in 2013, Sri Lanka amassed EUR 74 million (USD 82.4 million) in exports from the EU – Sri Lanka was blacklisted on 13 January 2015 by the EU when it failed to combat illegal fishing to the acceptable standard. Of particular concern for Brussels was that Sri Lanka was allowing vessels that had not been fitted with marine satellite positioning equipment to continue fishing in the Indian Ocean.
On 22 July, Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mahishini Colonne assured that the Sri Lankan government was taking the necessary steps to address such vessel monitoring concerns; the government is also working on maintaining and updating a register of high sea fishing licenses, banning vessels that utilize harmful fishing methods and prosecuting those that fish illegally, according to the Associated Press.
The Office of the Director General of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in Brussels is expected to visit Sri Lanka in October to conduct a technical evaluation and to discuss the remaining steps that need to be taken in order for the ban to be lifted, Colonne said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe noted last month that Sri Lanka hopes to have the ban lifted by the end of 2015 – 36 out of the 57 procedures mandated by the EU had been completed as of late June, reports found.
Belize was hit with similar EU restrictions in March 2014, but convinced the EU to lift the ban in December of that year after the country embraced new regulations with an eye toward preventing illegal fishing practices.
