While tourism returns to normal in Yala, a number of elephant attacks were reported this week from the national park.
The first incident was reported on Wednesday morning when a safari jeep carrying four French tourists was attacked by the tusker Nandimitra. A video filmed by passengers in a nearby jeep shows the angry elephant attacking the jeep with its sharp tusks. The vehicle was damaged and nearly toppled, but luckily the tourists were not harmed, and the elephant retreated to the wild.
On Friday, two separate attacks were reported in two different areas of the park. Once again Nandimitra was responsible for one of these attacks.Gemunu – another famous tusker – was responsible for the other incident where a jeep was toppled. Some eyewitnesses say Gemunu was trying to put his trunk into the jeep to look for food, and when the tourists tried to leave, the tyres of the vehicle slipped on some rocks, causing it to topple over.
Jeep toppled after Gemunu’s intrusion
Both Nandimitra and Gemunu are in musth these days, so they are aggressive, said Yala National Park Warden Manoj Vidyaratne. He said during the period of musth, the reproductive hormones of bull elephants increase several fold making them aggressive.
“There are several other bull elephants in the park that are in musth these days but Nandimitra and Gumunu are the ones that cause trouble as they have a habit of coming close to safari jeeps to look for food,” said Mr Vidyaratne.
At least 200 safari jeeps enter the Yala National Park daily. During the last long weekend more than 400 jeeps were recorded, daily, he added.
Elephant attacking a jeep
“Yala has only about 50 guides, so it is not possible to give a guide for each vehicle, and we entrust experienced jeep drivers to act responsibly. Two of our staff teams are on watch in the area these bull elephants frequent, to prevent any more incidents,” Mr Vidyaratne said.
“This is actually a man-made issue, which is a result of unregulated visitation, pilgrim sites and religious places within the national park,” said Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL) biologist Manori Gunawardena.
She said the elephants have developed a habit of looking for food in the safari jeeps because visitors and pilgrims feed them.
According to Ms Gunawardena, Nandimitra frequently visits Sithulpawwa Temple located inside the park, and is fed by the temple’s monks and pilgrims. It is believed that local hotels also feed Gemunu.
Gemunu and other elephants that are fed by people, have now started to stop vehicles and look for food with their trunks. If they cannot get the food inside the vehicles, then they begin to act aggressively. This behaviour becomes violent when in musth, Ms Gunawardena said.
The mother-child bond: With several instances of wild elephants being harassed by the public being reported, this scene was captured in the Maduru Oya Wildlife Park showing the love and care from the mother elephant to her baby. (Pic by Wasantha Chandrapala)
“People need to stop feeding wild animals in the park, otherwise there will be others like Nandimitra and Gemunu,” she added.
Feeding of wild animals has become a serious problem inside Yala, said Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) President Spencer Manuelpillai.
“At certain places where visitors are allowed to step down from their vehicles, people feed the macaque monkeys, who are attracted to these places because of the food. These animals have now become a nuisance, and a few people have been bitten and then rushed to the closest hospital for anti-rabies injections,” said Mr Manuelpillai.
“The existing regulations forbid people from feeding wildlife in the park. Unless these regulations are strictly enforced, worse incidents could happen. No lives have yet been lost. Severe penalties should be imposed on those who breach these laws,” he added.
According to reports, some factions are putting forward the idea of translocating problematic elephants from Yala to the Horowpathana elephant hoarding ground.
Mr Manuapillai said the WNPS is vehemently against this move. He requested the wildlife authorities to close Yala temporarily if necessary, but let these elephants remain in the park as it was their home and the visitors were intruders.
The multi-day fishing vessel Sampath 7 left the fisheries harbour in Beruwala in May last year, and its skipper Mahalingam Kanapathi steered the boat into the waters of Seychelles. However, since the vessel did not have a valid licence to fish in foreign waters Kanapathi was arrested along with his vessel by Seychelles coast guards on June 1.
When such an incident occurs usually the vessel and fishing gear are confiscated and the fishermen are repatriated after the payment of a fine by the vessel owner. In 2020 two vessels “Sampath 5″ and “Dhammi” from the same fishing community were seized by Seychelles authorities and after court proceedings and fines of 44,600 USD (Rs.9 million) and 34,850 USD (Rs.7 million) respectively, the fishermen and the vessels were released.
In this instance Kanapathi had pleaded guilty for charges of illegal fishing, but the judge pointing out to the previous incident and noting that the fines hadn’t deterred the fisherman had imposed a mammoth fine of 1.7 million USD (almost 352 million rupees). Unable to settle this fine, the 32-year-old Kanapathi , the sole breadwinner of a family with 2 children is currently serving a jail term of two years in the Seychelles.
From historical times Sri Lankan fishermen engage in what is known as ‘island job’ or ‘dupath rassawa’ in Sinhala–entering islands with shallow waters for fishing purposes. However, after countries adopted The Law of the Sea Convention in 1982, it is deemed illegal to enter foreign waters without a permit. Waters around Diego Garcia (British Indian Ocean territory), Seychelles, Mauritius, the Maldives, and Bangladesh are territories that Sri Lankan fishermen dare to sail into for fishing purposes.
Meanwhile, the continuing practice of what is termed Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in foreign waters, undermines global effort to conserve fish populations through managing fish stocks sustainably. This illegal method accounts for as much as 20% of the global fisheries catch. The European Union in 2014 cited IUU fishing practices as the key reason for imposing a fishing import ban on Sri Lanka that crippled its seafood industry and many livelihoods. The ban was lifted in 2016 after the government-initiated steps to curbing IUU fishing.
The introduction of a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) on multi-day boats that go into high seas beyond Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone was the main manner in which IUU fisheries was curbed.
Sri Lanka has about 4,200 multi-day fishing boats. The high seas fishing fleet is around 1,500 and all of these are fitted with VMS equipment, so that the vessels can be tracked. These high sea vessels have licences to fish in international waters.
It is believed that some Sri Lankan vessels, to circumvent the ban on IUU in Sri Lankan waters, go beyond Sri Lanka’s EEZ and engage in IUU fishing in international waters, said Kalyani Hewapathirana, Director of fishing operations of the Fisheries Department (DFAR).
To address the IUU issue, the Government with the aid of the Australian government is taking steps to introduce the VMS to all the other multi-day boats as well, she said. Their licences will be suspended if they are found breaching the law.
According to Fisheries Department data, 121 Sri Lankan fishing vessels were arrested in foreign waters in the past three years. Of these, 31 were in the Maldives, 19 in Diego Garcia, 10 in Seychelles, four in Bangladesh, and three in Myanmar.
Fifty four vessels were apprehended by Indian authorities but the incidents of illegal poaching by Indian fishermen in Sr Lankan waters and subsequent arrests far outnumber these.
The protected marine area in Diego Garcia is a rich fisheries habitat that Sri Lankan vessels often breach. Official data from Diego Garcia from 2010 to 2020 reveal an interesting fact that of the 120 vessels arrested 76% were from Sri Lanka. Most of these vessels were from the fishing harbour in Beruwala. The targetted fish were mainly sharks.
While the economic hardships, fuel shortages and power cuts add a gloomy undertone, nature however, looks to reconcile troubled minds adding fragrance to gardens in many areas through the blooming of pigeon orchids (Dendrobium crumenatum) this week.
Resembling the shape of a pigeon, this white orchid known as ‘parevi mal’ in Sinhala blooms in numbers clustered in an inflorescence emitting a very sweet fragrance. The speciality of this orchid is that all the mature plants in an area bloom simultaneously. Pigeon orchids in Southern Sri Lanka reportedly began blooming last Thursday, March 17 and in the Central province the previous week.
“Bloom of pigeon orchid is a response to the day and night temperature fluctuation where if it is more than 10 degrees celsius it could trigger flowering,” said former director of the Botanical Gardens, Botanist Dr. Siril Wijesunadara. This can happen usually after a heavy rainfall, where many areas in Sri Lanka receive rains after a drier period recently. According to some studies, the pigeon orchid blooms after 9 days of a heavy rainfall and as all the mature orchids in an area get exposed to similar conditions, the pigeon orchids in an area bloom together, Dr. Wijesundara told The Sunday Times.
In nature, such blooming in response to the temperature variance is common. Dr. Wijesundara recall that commercial florists in Netherlands take mature orchid plants into a green house which colder temperatures to stimulate the flowering. “As Sri Lanka has different climatic zones, commercial cultivators may use this to their advantage where plants raised in dry zone can take to the hill country to stimulate this temperature fluctuations,” Dr. Wijesundara said recalling at least a few such experiments carried out in Sri Lanka. The Pigeon Orchid is an introduced exotic plant to Sri Lanka while it is native to India, Indochina, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Christmas Island. This was a very popular garden plant decades ago, but they are not that common nowadays. These orchids used to be tied to a large tree such as coconut or mango with few coconut husks and the plant just grew without any special care. But the gardens continue to shrink where space for larger trees become limited, hence the pigeon orchids too may soon become a thing of the past.
Another similar exotic orchid that was very common decades ago was Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid 9 Papilionanthe teres) also known as the Singapore orchid, because it is the national flower of Singapore. This orchid with slender stems that should be tied to posts for support has now lost its popularity in Sri Lanka.
Senior manager of the Nations Trust Bank Wattala branch, Ruwan Kolitha leaves his residence at Udahamulla, Nugegoda every day around 6.30 am,, while his colleagues spend hours in fuel queues
Mr. Kolitha rides his bicycle from Udahamulla to the office, about 20 kilometres, which takes him about one hour.
“If I use my car, it take at least one hour to cover this distance and on days with traffic jams, it takes more time,” Mr. Kolitha told the Sunday Times. The car consumes about four litres for the two-way trip. Based on the fuel price, Mr Kolitha saves over Rs.1,000 daily, or at least Rs. 25,000 a month.
He suggests cycling could also help to reduce the country’s fuel import bill.
Cycling is good for one’s health, says Dr. Asela Abeydeera. Riding a bike for 30 mins at 12 miles per hour, one can burn 298 calories. This will boost your immune system and keep you fit, said Dr. Abeydeera who rides his bike from Piliyandala to Borella every day. He rides about 15km and during the morning and evening rush hours, he beats the traffic.
The bicycle has been termed as the ‘poor man’s vehicle’, but architects, bankers, businessmen, doctors are among those who ride to work daily, said Mr. Kolitha.
Dr Abeydeera and like-minded people had created an informal group called ‘Ride for Life’, which has grown to 1,000. If a million people ride 10km a day for a month, it could help save US$250 million, (Rs 83.7 billion) the team estimates. Dr. Abeydeera said it is also estimated that to travel 1 km by car costs at least Rs.100, so if 100 cyclists ride daily from Moratuwa to Colombo and back Rs. 200,000 could be saved daily, 6 million monthly and 72 million a year. This will also be more environmentally friendly as it will reduce the Carbon Dioxide emission.
Dr. T. Shivakumar of the department of transport and logistics management of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, said safety is a main concern.
Many developed countries have separate lanes for cyclists and cycling was promoted during the coronavirus disease pandemic.
In contrast, Sri Lanka spends billions of rupees on highways, but cycling lanes could be created at a fraction of that cost. At least new highways should have cycle lanes, Dr. Shivakumar said.
Ruwan Kolitha: Riding to work and right, a view from his bike
Riding during the day in the heat is also a challenge in the tropics, but countries including Philippines promote cycling.
Shade trees could be planted along cycling tracks, Dr. Shivakumar said. After a ride, one may need to take a wash, so locker and shower facilities in public areas, too, should be developed, he added.
The ‘Ride for Life’ team proposes six cycling lanes to Colombo starting from Panadura, Piliyandala, Kottawa multimodal centre to connect Port City / Parliament Lane, Kaduwela connecting to Peliyagoda, Ja-ela to Fort and a circular track across Moratuwa, Nugegoda, Rajagiriya, Wellampitiya, Peliyagoda interconnection to Port City/Pelawatte loop. These need not be built alongside busy roads, but alternative routes can be created along canal/river banks, railways, fields and parks.
Dr. Abeydeera, Mr Kolitha and most others have access to private shower facilities. They carry their office wear in bags attached to the carrying container fixed on the bike. They also propose shower and locker facilities for a fee at multimodal transport hubs and private and public buildings along with parking areas.
These proposals were submitted to the government through then environment minister Mahinda Amaraweera in January this year. Mr Amaraweera said later the ministry is preparing to promote cycling to reduce air pollution and also considering other factors. He said the government incurs a cost of Rs. 103.56 per km when a vehicle enters Colombo during traffic congestion (based on January fuel prices).
Dr Abyedeera said riding a bicycle when going grocery shopping to a nearest town could also help save money and also be environment friendly.
The University of Moratuwa is doing a survey on bicycle use and is inviting suggestions, through the link https://tinyurl.com/2x2j9u94
The Dehiwala zoo’s baby orangutan, aged about five years, drowned last week in the moat that surrounds its den. It was alone in its den on the night of April 21.
Its mother, too, died last December. As a rule, animals that spend the day in larger, open enclosures are caged at night for safety reasons, but this baby orangutan had refused to go into the cage. The curator had let the orangutan stay in the open enclosure and had asked a zookeeper to watch over it.
In happier times: Richie with its mother in 2017 (Pic courtesy Dehiwala zoo Facebook Page)
The zookeeper says the orangutan was seen in the middle of the den at about 5:30 am. He had left the area and when he returned, the orangutan was missing. Zoo staff noticed it had drowned. The lifeless body was taken to the zoo hospital.
The director general of the Zoological Gardens, Dr. Thilak Premakantha said the zookeeper was interdicted and the curators has been transferred to other sections.
“It is clear that there is some negligence, so an investigation has started and those responsible will be punished,” Dr. Premakantha said. A mechanism to make sure all animals in open enclosures are caged at night would be implemented. A risk assessment is being made.
Named Richie, the orangutan was born in 2017 to mother Aki and father Ufo.
The pair was received from Indonesia’s Ragunan Zoo. This pair had given birth to a male in 2010. It was named Sakiffo. The occasion was celebrated as the birth of the first orangutan baby in Dehiwala in 28 years.
Orangutans are a critically endangered great ape found in Indonesia and Malaysia where zoologists believe only about 60,000 are living in the wild. Few hundred of orangutans are in captivity in zoos and the information of these animals is maintained in a global registry called studbook. The orangutan studbook managed by a zoo in the United States indicates that Sri Lanka has received seven orangutans since the 1970s and has recorded four births.
Animal welfare activists allege that the national zoo is incapable of looking after animals and that many face untimely deaths.
The real causes that led to the death of the orangutan must be addressed, they say, rather than just punishing only a guard.
There are concerns that the zoo operation is corrupt and its management politicised. The most recent director, Shermila Rajapaksha, was removed after a dispute with zoo workers.
According to a news report, several Malaysian women had an embarrassing experience when they lost their undergarments that had been left to dry outside. Their initial suspect was a ‘panty thief’, but the stolen items were found in birds’ nests in the area. The ‘panty thief’ was in fact the house crows.
Crows have become a nuisance to Malaysians. The birds steal food and their droppings cause other problems.
Crow nest built with cloth hangers
Malaysia has two native crow species, but the troublemaker is house crow (corvus splendens) introduced to the country about 100 years ago. Malaysian bird experts, told the Sunday Times that these house crows had originated in Sri Lanka.
“The house crow is an introduced species in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore and based on what we know, the house crow was introduced to this part of the world from individuals who imported them to the state of Selangor in Malaysia from Sri Lanka when both countries were ruled by the British,’’ said Dr. Yong Dingli, regional flyway coordinator of BirdLife International based in Singapore. The crows had apparently been imported to control pests in plantations, Dr. Yong said.
The global invasive species database managed by the IUCN states that the house crow has been established in at least 25 countries as an invasive species. The Invasive Species Compendium (CABI) states that the first introduction was in the 1870s from Sri Lanka to control a plague of caterpillars. The reports indicate 56 house crows were imported from Sri Lanka to Port Klang. According to the book, Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, these birds were captured from somewhere near Mt. Lavinia.
From a study of the genetic diversity of native and introduced populations in Asia and Africa, researchers found that the lowest genetic diversity was found for the intentionally introduced population in Selangor, Malaysia, proving that Sri Lanka should be the source population for Selangor consistent with a documented introduction over 100 years ago.
The reason for more diverse genetic diversity of crows in other areas of Malaysia could be that crows could also spread through shipping.
“It is also possible that house crows could also arrive in the region through shipping connecting ports,” Dr. Yong said.
The house crow, famously known as ‘kolamba kaputa’ is native to South Asia, but is now found in the Malay peninsula, certain parts of Africa, and even Victoria in Australia.
The kaputa is also a threat to native creatures.
Singapore has successfully managed to keep them at bay.
Although ‘kolamba kaputas’ are not panty thieves, they steal other artificial items to build nests. Clothes hangers are one of their favourite items.
Though not attractive, crows are known for their cunning behaviour and intelligence.
Experiments have shown how a crow drops stones into a water container to lift the water level to drink.
The cafeteria of the University of Colombo was a place from where crows were found to be stealing items.
Prabath Rodrigo, recalled: “I had left my food plate to wash my hands. A crow came from nowhere and stole the egg. Nobody would believe this if they had not seen it.’’
Still, kaputas have been shown to be dumb when defending its nest. The koel, or the cuckoo, lays its eggs on a crow’s nest.
Instead of whistling a happy tune, crows cackle and squawk in irritating patterns.
But crows are also known for their brotherhood. They alert other family members when they find food. They also roost communally where crows in one area choose a tree to spend the night.
They often nest with mynas which are also known to roost in groups.
The large tree near the Borella cemetery is one such example.
The Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL) has been doing a roosting count of crows of Colombo for the past 40 years. Records that the crow population in Colombo peaked in 2006, but declined in 2012.
Prof. Nihal Dayawansa, the group’s president, said open garbage dumps and irresponsible disposal of food are factors in the population of crows rising.
In 2010, the then government under Mahinda Rajapaksa began a programme to make Colombo beautiful while closing a number of open garbage dumps. Prof. Dayawansa said that this would have resulted in the decline in Colombo’s population of crows.
It is a difficult time for everyone, so the fishermen of the boat ‘Sehansa’ that left Mirissa harbour on May 1, prayed for a good catch. The ocean deity Poseidon would have heard their prayers. They hauled in a giant manta ray and sold it for Rs 170,000. To offload the 800 kilogram fish, they had to use a backhoe.
The fish was netted about 25 nautical miles offshore, so dragging it back to shore was a struggle. It took about 15 hours for the boat to reach Mirissa harbour, according to its skipper Ranjith Abeysundara.
The giant Manta Ray Pic by Tharanga Gunarathne
“But manta ray is a marvel of nature, and it would be worth more alive,” said Daniel Fernando of the Blue Resources Trust, an expert on rays and sharks.
He confirmed that what was caught by Mirissa fishermen was a giant manta ray, scientifically called mobula birostris. Manta rays are an important attraction in marine tourism because of their enormous size and they are easily drawn to humans.
In the Maldives, rays are a key tourist attraction and operators for manta ray watching are estimated to generate over US$73 million a year with a direct economic impact, including associated tourism earnings of US$140 million a year, according to a 2013 study on ‘The Global Economic Impact of Manta Ray Watching Tourism’.
Manta rays are a migratory species, so the one caught by the Mirissa fishermen could be one that was part of an attraction elsewhere. The creature could have a greater economic value alive than the Rs.170,000 it was sold for, according to experts.
Rays and skates are usually bottom dwellers, but the manta rays glide in open oceans, so it is also called oceanic manta ray, says Mr Fernando.
Forty-two species of rays are known to live in Sri Lankan waters both inshore and in the ocean and the giant manta ray is the largest of them all.
According to available literature, the giant manta ray can grow to a disc size of up to 7 m (23 ft) across. It can weigh about 3,000 kg, but the average size is 4.5m (15 ft). So in that sense, the one caught in Mirissa could have grown to be a bigger creature.
Research has found that manta rays feed on plankton, filtering them through the ocean waters as they swim with their mouths open, but they also feed on fish on occasions. Manta rays filter feed using gill plates, which are cartilage filaments. These are being used in traditional Chinese medicine, so there is a demand for the dry gill rakers, which also has led to them being purposely targeted. But they often become by catch in commercial fishing.
Manta ray, like most sharks, are slow breeders. The female usually gives birth to a single pup and it has about a 12-month gestation period, records show.
“So, when we catch manta ray unsustainably, their population quickly declines. This species is already categorised as ‘endangered’ in the global red list,” Mr Fernando told the Sunday Times. The fish was elevated to the ‘endangered’ list only in 2020. Overfishing has become the main threat.
In Sri Lanka, the elephant and leopard are categorised as ‘endangered’ and there is a big uproar when such animals get killed.
“But it is sad the same attention is not given to ocean creatures such as manta ray, even though they have the same threatened levels,” Mr Fernando noted.
A recent global assessment which was done over years found that a third of shark and ray species have been overfished to near extinction. Scientists points out that sharks and rays are the indicators that the fisheries reach unsustainable level and if no action is taken, more oceanic creatures would face extinction.
The sandy beaches look like barren wastelands, but as you enter the water in the ocean and start to go deeper, a world rich in biodiversity opens up.
This space is home to a wide array of creatures ranging from tiny algae to the blue whale, but how many of us got the chance to experience this, asks Alosha Samaraarachchi, nine-year-old young ‘marine biologist’ who addressed a World Ocean Day event in Sri Lanka on June 8.
Oceans provide half of the world’s oxygen and also absorb a lot of carbon dioxide, which helps to slow down global warming. Oceans support our well-being by providing food, but overfishing and other harmful activities impact its biodiversity, preventing the oceans’ ability to help us, Alosha said. Oceans have also become our biggest dumping yard where it becomes a plastic soup.
As a global youth ambassador of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, Alosha aims to promote marine conservation among adults and children in Sri Lanka and hopes to make a positive impact on marine conservation. Alosha stressed the importance of conserving the oceans.
Daniel Fernando, a co-founder of the Blue Resources Trust (BRT), says many Sri Lankans are unaware of the vast marine biodiversity of our island’s shores, or the threats facing our marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
BRT in collaboration with the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka and the Tokyo Cement Group organised an event for World Oceans Day titled “Know Our Oceans”.
World’s Ocean Day event
This included an exhibition and short talks. The exhibition highlighted marine conservation issues through displays, selected specimens from the BRT scientific collection, and underwater photographs.
Amanda Jewell, the deputy high commissioner for Australia in Sri Lanka, mentioned the importance of ocean conservation and educating more people about the importance of the heritage of oceans.
She highlighted that Sri Lanka and Australia are both islands connected by the Indian Ocean with many similar challenges in balancing the needs of people and conserving the immense biodiversity within their ocean territory.
A presentation by Nishan Perera, co-founder of BRT highlighted the state of Sri Lanka’s coral reefs.
He took the audience through a pictorial journey of the coral reefs from the 1990s to the present day, showcasing changes and what the future may hold.
“We get coral reefs even off Colombo on the west coast and some of these are still very rich in fish life,” Mr. Perera said.
But, most coral reefs in the south are destroyed, and reefs on the east coast are better preserved. It is important to protect the remaining coral cover, he said.
Illegal methods such as dynamite fishing destroys these coral reefs with reported cases of blast fishing even inside the pigeon island marine national park.
Prof. Kokila Konasinghe from the department of public and international law at the Faculty of Law, Colombo University, spoke about ocean rights from the angle of nature.
She argued for a human-focused view of nature, looking at the rights of humans.
However, this notion is now being challenged, with a movement towards treating nature itself as a legal entity with rights to being conserved and not harmed.
She highlighted several landmark legal rulings in New Zealand, India, and Ecuador that recognised the rights of natural ecosystems to be protected from human activities, and how in the future, the legal framework for nature conservation may be different from the way we see it today.
The importance of engaging local communities, and understanding the complexities and diverse relationships of people with the ocean was highlighted by Dr. Gayathri Lokuge, senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, through examples of her work across Sri Lanka.
“When you check the statistics, it gives an assumption only the male is involved in the fisheries sector, but it wasn’t the true picture,” Dr. Lokuge said explaining her case of the women who collect mussels in the Kinniya Lagoon. “Even I didn’t know the level of involvement of women in fishing, but our study revealed 590 fisher-women in the Trincomalee coast.’’
These people who are ‘invisible’ in statistics should also be considered in managing the fisheries sector, she said.
Blast fishing is widely practiced in the seas around Sri Lanka, with even marine parks and historical shipwrecks not immune to this illegal practice.
Authorities say blast fishers work as part of a network to evade capture and obtain explosives, including by smuggling them in by sea from India.
The easy availability of explosives transcends conservation issues and raises serious national security concerns, experts say, pointing to the use of explosives in a coordinated terrorist attack on churches during Easter of 2019.
Blast fishing also poses a threat to recreational divers, with a serious injury or even death spelling the end for Sri Lanka’s dive tourism industry that’s already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic crisis.
COLOMBO — It was a perfect morning in Pigeon Island National Park in eastern Sri Lanka, where a group of tourists in a boat was taking in the rich marine life in the water around them. All of a sudden, there was a loud blast close by. As silence settled once again, they saw the fish that had been flitting nimbly about now either floating dead on the surface or struggling to swim. Through the clear water, they could see more dead fish in the seabed.
Hans-Georg Kehse, the leader of the tour group, realized they’d just narrowly escaped an explosive meant for catching fish.
“Fish bombs or dynamite fishing has become a common occurrence in and around Pigeon Island National Park, where sounds of such explosions have become frequent,” said Kehse, who operates a dive center near the park.
He estimated that the recent blast occurred only about 400 meters, or a quarter-mile, from his tour group. Any closer, Kehse said, it could have been a human tragedy, which would have dealt a devastating blow to Sri Lanka’s already beleaguered marine tourism industry.
Unable to swim with a ruptured swimming bladder, fish injured by an underwater concussive blast slowly sink to the bottom of the sea. Image courtesy of Dharshana Jayawardena.
No sites off-limits for blast fishing
Dynamite fishing relies on an explosive to kill or stun large numbers of fish. The shockwaves from the underwater blast can kill a fish or rupture its swim bladder, resulting in the fish losing its buoyancy. They then become easy pickings for fishers, who just have to scoop them out of the water. But the practice is indiscriminately killing or injuring all marine creatures in the vicinity and damaging marine habitats such as coral reefs.
In a marine park like Pigeon Island, corals constitute the main underwater life support system, and the repeated blasts can shatter the substrate of that coral growth, preventing its recovery, said Arjan Rajasuriya, a leading coral expert in Sri Lanka and former researcher with the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).
Most of the corals in southern Sri Lanka are already bleached, and those in other areas are threatened. The eastern coast, where Pigeon Island is located, has the highest cover of live corals, but blast fishing poses a serious threat to them, Rajasuriya told Mongabay.
A blast fisher collecting dying fish on the seabed. Image courtesy of Dharshana Jayawardena.
Shipwreck sites, which attract large numbers of fish, have also become targets of blast fishing, according to Dharshana Jayawardena of Dive Sri Lanka, a diving tour operator. That’s especially concerning, given that dive tourism is seen as key to helping the tourism industry in Sri Lanka recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic crisis, Jayawardena said.
At the rate at which blast fishing is taking place, including at dive sites, it’s just a matter of time before a tourist gets injured, which would spell the end for Sri Lanka’s dive tourism industry, Jayawardena told Mongabay.
Among the sites where blast fishing is rife is Trincomalee in the country’s east, Galle in the south, and Mannar and Jaffna in the northern Pigeon Island is a particular concern because it’s one of just three marine national parks in Sri Lanka — a purportedly protected area administered by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). A naval camp is located close by, from where the explosions can be clearly heard.
Large schools of fish like trevally are often targeted by blast fishers. Image courtesy of Dharshana Jayawardena.
Keeping explosives out of circulation
DWC director-general Chandana Sooriyabandara said the department’s officers on the ground work hard to tackle blast fishing whenever possible. Officers stationed near Pigeon Island said they try to go after the perpetrators whenever they hear an explosion, but these activities are so well coordinated that the fishing boats out at sea are quickly tipped off about the approaching patrol boats, allowing them time to flee.
The Sri Lankan Navy has apprehended several fishermen involved in blast fishing in recent years, seizing explosives that include TNT, C4, and gelignite. The latter, a water-based blasting gelatin, has increasingly become the explosive of choice.
In 2017, the Navy seized 52 kilograms (115 pounds) of water gel. In the first few months of 2019, they seized 63 kg (139 lbs). Following the April 2019 Easter church bombings, there was a massive crackdown on the circulation of explosives, resulting in a drop in blast fishing during that period.
Blast fishing at the wreck of the SS British Sergeant off Kayankerni Passikudah in Sri Lanka’s Eastern province. Image courtesy of Nishan Perera.
The distribution of explosives in Sri Lanka is regulated by the Navy. Explosives that end up being used in blast fishing either leak from this distribution chain or are smuggled into the country by sea from neighboring India. The Navy says it has intensified its patrols of this sea route to crack down on the smuggling of explosives and other contraband.
But even these efforts are being undermined due to the unfolding economic crisis, the worst in Sri Lanka’s history. Acute shortages mean fuel for patrols by the DWC is being rationed. The Navy, meanwhile, is focused on another pressing problem: stopping the flow of desperate Sri Lankans trying to migrate to India.
Coral expert Rajasuriya said it’s impossible to identify the number of people who have access to explosives. The problem of blast fishing has gone from being a conservation issue and is now of national concern, he said. He called for strict vigilance and intelligence gathering, similar to the situation in the wake of the 2019 terrorist bombings, to identify how these explosives are being sourced.
A reef before the blast. Image courtesy of Nishan Perera.
Political intervention and poverty
Blast fishing is especially rampant in Mannar, in Sri Lanka’s northern region, according to S.S.M. Peramunagama from the Sri Lankan Department of Agriculture, who has researched destructive fishing activities there. It’s widely thought that blast fishing in Mannar is practiced by fishers coming from other regions, but the reality is that it’s the local fishers doing it, Peramunagama said.
When fish reach the market, it’s difficult to determine whether they were killed by a blast, even for fisheries inspectors. “Another difficulty in enforcing the law is the degree of political interventions that had often [led to] the release of the arrested fishers,” Peramunagama told Mongabay. He also highlighted the personal risk that the blast fishers themselves run, with loss of limbs a very real danger whenever they handle the explosives.
Fish killed in a blast are packed into bags by a diver and hauled onto a boat. Image courtesy of Dharshana Jayawardena.
A 2021 review of the existing scientific literature on blast fishing shows it’s a worldwide problem that’s driven by more than just poverty. “Blast fishing is happening in Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe since explosives started [becoming] available relatively freely in the late 19th century,” said lead author Melissa Hampton-Smith of the University of New England, Australia. The study identified particularly destructive practices in parts of Southeast Asia, Tanzania, the Red Sea, and many other areas in Asia.
Though poverty is often cited as the main factor driving fishers to resort to blast fishing, the biggest contributor is the easy access to explosives, Hampton-Smith said. Access to credit and the prospect of increased catches were also identified as bigger drivers than poverty, she added. The review also indicated that blast fishers tend to be wealthier than fishers who don’t practice blast fishing.
Citations:
Peramunagama, S. S. M., & Thusyanthini, R. (2021). The importance of involving community organizations for preventing destructive fishing activities in Mannar, Sri Lanka. Advances in Technology, 1(1), 177-190. doi:10.31357/ait.v1i1.4850
Hampton-Smith, M., Bower, D. S., & Mika, S. (2021). A review of the current global status of blast fishing: Causes, implications, and solutions. Biological Conservation, 262, 109307. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109307
Banner image of corals and colorful reef fish at the Wallet Wreck off Colombo, courtesy of Dharshana Jayawardena.
Pheasant-tailed jacanas practice a system of polyandry that sees each female maintain a “harem” of males, each tasked with looking after a clutch of eggs.
That’s led to unusual parenting roles that see the males incubate the eggs and care for the young, and the females play the leading role in defending against attacks by predators.
These behaviors have been documented for the first time in a study that looked at jacanas in the Anawilundawa Sanctuary in Sri Lanka, one of six Ramsar wetlands in the country.
Researchers posit that the species evolved this system of polyandry to maximize the number of chicks that grow into adulthood, given the high mortality rate from predation in the open habitat of the wetlands.
Banner image of a male pheasant-tailed jacana incubating eggs and discharging the majority of parental duties, courtesy of Jagath Gunawardana.
COLOMBO — When it comes to super dads in the animal kingdom, the striking-looking waterbird known as the pheasant-tailed jacana is in a universe all its own. From incubating the eggs to taking care of the young, the male of the species excels. And in a reversal of the typical roles that play out in the wild, the female plays an outsized part in defending the nest and the young from predators.
These and other previously unknown details of the nesting behavior of pheasant-tailed jacanas (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) have emerged from a study carried out in Sri Lanka’s Anawilundawa Sanctuary, one of the country’s six Ramsar sites, or wetlands of international importance.
A male jacana tucks its young under the wings and moves swiftly to safety. Image courtesy of Gehan Rajeev.
“We observed the strong defense response of the pheasant-tailed jacana to intrusions and found that, in most cases, the male responds by taking care of the young when there is a threat,” said study co-author Chandima Fernando, an ecologist and geographic information system (GIS) specialist from the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL).
The male jacana, he said, has a special way of getting the young out of danger by tucking them under its wings and moving swiftly away. But on their observation site, Fernando mostly observed the males quickly guiding the young to safe hiding spots.
The female also takes part in defending the chicks, especially against aerial threats from other birds, the study found. In fact, they played the main defensive role rather than merely supporting male defense actions against aerial threats, Fernando said.
The pheasant-tailed jacana gets its name from the elongated center tail feathers it develops during the breeding season. Image courtesy of Riaz Cader.
Super dads and defender moms
Jacana chicks are a common target for other birds, including predatory species such as the shikra (Accipiter badius) and Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus), as well as the white-breasted kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis), while the eggs are targeted by birds like the purple swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus). Brahminy kites are the most frequent attacker, and whenever they mount an aerial attack on a jacana nest, it’s the female that responds first. Female jacanas are slightly larger than the males, which could explain why they’re the ones to confront dangers from the skies.
Their response varies from making a warning call to flying up and striking a threatening pose. There are also times when the female jacana actively pursues the intruder, combat style, Fernando said. As the breeding progresses, the female’s involvement in defending the net increases, the researchers observed.
Anawilundawa is one of six Ramsar wetlands in Sri Lanka. Image courtesy of Ajith Gamage.
A wetland is an open habitat with little or no space to hide from predators, so the chicks, little fluffy balls of feathers, need to be actively protected from other threats. Water monitors abound in the Anawilundawa wetland, as do snakes and other reptiles, which all hunt the young jacanas. That gives the male bird a busy time taking care of the young, Fernando said.
The researchers studied nine breeding groups of pheasant-tailed jacanas during the breeding season, which ran from nest building to fledging state. The team divided the breeding season into three phases for better observation: pre-incubation, when a pair is involved in mating and nest building, which goes on for six to eight days; incubation, which lasts for about 21 to 26 days, when the male plays a prominent role; and chick rearing, the final 21 days, when the female’s defensive behavior is heightened.
Each female jacanas maintains a large territory, within which multiple males compete for and defend smaller territories of their own. They don’t tolerate other individuals of their own species trespassing, chasing them out if they cross the boundaries. The researchers observed that male jacanas responded to intruder males, while females responded to intruding females.
The study team used differences in individual color patterns, markings, and the length and the quality of the tail to identify the individual jacanas in the study sites, as a way to tell residents apart from intruders.
“Jacanas have a polyandrous breeding system, so the competition among males for breeding opportunities including risks of cuckoldry could be making the males more defensive of their territories from other males,” Fernando told Mongabay.
Jacanas have long toes and claws that help them hold steady and walk on aquatic vegetation. Image courtesy of Jagath Gunawardana.
Different mating system
Jacanas are tropical water birds that have adapted well to life in a lake with vegetation. They have long straight claws and toes that spread out their
weight, allowing them to walk on the floating aquatic vegetation with ease. That’s earned them the names “lily birds” and “lily trotters.” Their common name refers to the elongated central tail feathers that they develop during the breeding season.
Compared with other animals, birds typically have an exemplary family life, with about 90% of species being monogamous, i.e. a single male and a single female mating. But jacanas are a notable exception, with each female maintaining a “harem” of males, each of which in turn looks after a clutch of eggs.
“We have to do more studies to understand why some birds adapt to the polyandrous mating system, but a common understanding is that breeding strategies are basically related to the environment they live in,” said study co-author Sarath Kotagama, an ornithologist and emeritus professor of ecology who pioneered bird-watching and ornithological studies in Sri Lanka in recent decades.
The purple swamphen is among the many species that prey on pheasant-tailed jacana eggs. Image courtesy of Evarts Ranley.
The open habitats that jacanas prefer create conditions for high rates of mortality. That means there’s a real need to ensure as many chicks as possible grow into adulthood. Researchers posit that having an increased number of chicks through multiple broods could be the strategy that jacanas have evolved to increase the survival rate of the species, Kotagama told Mongabay.
Citation:
Fernando, C., Kotagama, S. W., Rendall, A., & Weston, M., (2022). Defense of eggs and chicks in the polyandrous pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus) in Sri Lanka: Sex-roles, stage of breeding, and intruder type. Waterbirds, 44(3), 363-369. doi:10.1675/063.044.0311
As the national day of the Sri Lankan leopard is marked once again tomorrow, experts say the economic crisis could raise the threat levels related to the big cats.
Law enforcements against trappings and killings could diminish, and as people continue to lose their livelihoods, poaching could increase.
The leopard is the apex mammalian predator and the largest wild cat in the Sri Lankan wildernesses. Reports indicate that 109 leopards died during the past 12 years in Sri Lanka.
Hill country leopards such as this photographed in Horton Plains are threatened due to snares. Pic by Sankha Wanniatchi
It is estimated that there fewer than 1,000 leopards left and this would be a worrying number, said Prof. Enoka Kudavidanage of the Sabaragamuwa University, who is also the co-chair of the wild cat subcommittee of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS).
The national day of the Sri Lankan leopard was first celebrated last year following a proposal by WNPS. The first of August was selected as it was the date on which a thesis by Dr. Sriyanie Miththapala confirmed that the Sri Lankan leopard subspecies is unique to Sri Lanka, naming it scientifically Panthera Pardus Kotiya.
A pair of leopards wait to cross the Buttala-Kataragama Road. Pic by Milinda Wattegedera of the Yala Leopard Diary
“While we need to pay attention to this species 24/7 due to its threat levels, the objective of declaring a national day is to draw special attention to the Sri Lankan Leopard,” says Spencer Manuelpillai, the immediate past president of WNPS.
The declaration of Sri Lanka Leopard Day in 2021, is supported by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
“It is something the department is very proud of, as a day would help celebrate this iconic animal while continuing to help raise awareness on the continuing threats the species faces,’’ said Mr Chandana Sooriyabandara, the director general of DWC.
Snares cause most of the leopard deaths in Sri Lanka.
Leopards after a hunt in the Wilpattu National Park. Pic by Dev Wijewardane
These are mainly set up for hunting game animals such as wild boar, but the leopards become victims. Some snares may be deliberately targeting leopards. These need to be investigated deeply, says Rukshan Jayawardene, an activist who has been working for decades to conserve leopards.
Economic hardships could force communities living close to protected areas to take up poaching to supplement their diet or earn some income. This would indirectly impact leopards as it would affect the population of their prey too. A person who never thought of killing a leopard may even be pushed to do such an act if the leopard become a threat to their livestock etc, Mr.Jayawardene said.
Suspected trafficking in body parts, poisoning remains other causes of leopard deaths, and the loss and fragmentation of habitat, loss of prey, and disturbance by safari jeeps also remain causes of concern.
“The decision to transfer the guardianship of the ‘other state forest’(OSF) lands from the Department of Forests to regional administrations allowing their easier release to agriculture and other developments too need to be reversed,” Mr, Jayawardene said. Most of these OSFs are good forest habitats that are frequented by leopards and their fragmentations may make them vulnerable he said.
The populations of leopards in several areas such as Yala, Wilpattu, and the Hill Country are now well-studied thanks to recent surveys by researchers such as Dr.Andrew Kittle, Anjali Watson, Dinal Samarasinghe Prof. Kudavidanage.
But the leopard is an elusive wild cat that can co-exist even in populated areas, so it is important to do an islandwide survey and identify the threats specific to such areas, Prof. Kudavidanage told the SundayTimes.
WNPS recently launched a multi-regional monitoring system for the conservation of the Sri Lankan leopard. Under this initiative, WNPS with the support of LOLC Holdings established six leopard research centres in Panama, Morningside, Killinochchi, Belihul Oya, Nallathaniya, and Sigiriya.
“The project will continue for five years and we believe it will fill gaps of knowledge of areas that no past research was carried out,” said Mr Manuelpillai.
The project’s fieldwork began this month and will monitor leopards using camera traps and surveys. The research centers will develop a network among local wildlife and forest officers, and would also serve as educational hubs to create awareness among locals, including sharing knowledge and generating research-based human-leopard conflict mitigation measures, Mr. Manuelpillai said.
One of the main highlights would be the study of the leopard population in the northern region. There has been a lack of data due to the war.
“There are leopard sightings in some areas, but these are not being properly documented, so we are first planning to set up a network to facilitate this information flow,” said the coordinator of the Kilinochchi center, Mr Marynathan Edison. After the war, the land use pattern is changing in Northern Sri Lanka, so more confrontations are expected.
“To avoid conflict, we need data to make informed decisions,’’ Mr. Edison told the SundayTimes.
Forests known as ‘other state forests’ (OSF) are in the spotlight since a circular in November 2020 transferred their administration from the Forest Department to district and divisional secretariats.
Environmentalists have gone to courts against the decision and during the last hearing on Wednesday August 3, the Attorney General (AG) gave an undertaking that these forests would not be handed over to district administration, says environment lawyer Ravindranath Dabare.
When the Court of Appeal took up the case filed by the Center for Environment Justice (CEJ) on Wednesday, the AG said the Government would utilise only the lands that could not be considered forests. This promise was recorded as an ‘undertaking’ (which in legal terms means a promise to the court by a respondent), Mr. Dabare told the Sunday Times.
To clear doubts and confusion as regards the present circular that specifically mentions the ‘Other State Forests’, the court requested that a new circular be drafted and presented to the court at the next hearing, the lawyer said. This is a positive outcome for the protection of the OSF, said Mr. Dabare who is also the chairperson of CEJ.
Rainforests in the wet zone harbours high biodiversity. Pic by Mevan Piyasena
Some forests in Sri Lanka are administered by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) under different protected categories such as national parks, nature reserves, strict nature reserves, and sanctuaries. The Forest Department has forest reserves, conservation forests, and one national heritage wilderness area. The forests other than privately owned lands that are not part of this protected area network are named the ‘Other State Forests’.
The standalone coverage of OSF land is around 338,229 ha, or about 5% of the island’s land area. The broader forested area including OSFs is estimated to be 772,379 ha — about 11.8% of the total land area. Some of the forests such as Gilimale and Nilgala are larger than 10,000 ha and are important habitats.
Prior to 2001, these ‘other state forests’ have been administered by the divisional secretariats. But considering the importance of these forests, OSFs were transferred under the protection of the Forest Department in 2001 through a special circular known as 05/2001. It is this circular that was invalidated by the new one.
Their Sinhala name ‘awashesha kele’ also known as ‘residual forests’ gives the wrong impression that these are not as valuable as the protected forests, but some of these, particularly those located in the wet zone are rich in biodiversity, say researchers. Some of these are already tagged as ‘Proposed Forest Reserves’ to be absorbed into the protected area network.
The major argument put forward by the government is that even the state lands that do not have forests cannot be released when they are with the Forest Department and this creates unnecessary delays in development work.
But senior environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardana dismissed this claim saying provisions and guidance on releasing non-forest lands are already available through another circular issued in 2006. “Utilising already abandoned lands and increasing the productivity in agriculture are the way forward,” said Mr. Gunawardana dismissing the idea of giving forests for agricultural purposes.
Environmentalist Dinal Samarasinghe pointed out that Sri Lanka had set a goal to increase its forest cover to 32% by 2030. He said any move to cause forest destruction will also impact the country’s global commitments toward biodiversity conservation and climate change. This will account for equivalent to at least about 89 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions if these forests are destroyed, Mr. Samarasinghe told the Sunday Times.
Just this week, three elephants, including a tusker and a calf, died from electrocution in Mihintale. One tusker was only about 15 years old, and the calf was about five years, according to sources of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).
Mid week, another elephant died of electrocution in Vavuniya and at the start of the month, a Kalawewa tusker named Barana also died from electrocution.
Barana – a king of Kalawewa herd died due to electrocution. Pic by Mevan Piyasena.
As of the first week of August, 258 elephants have died and more than 50 humans have lost their lives. Gunshots have accounted for 35 elephant deaths, while ‘hakkapatas’, or jaw bombs, have killed 30. Worryingly, electrocutions have killed 25 elephants.
This has become the third main reason for elephant deaths. This threat must be addressed environmentalists say.
In 2010, only 11 elephant deaths out of 227 were due to electrocutions, but in 2021, electrocutions killed 66 elephants, compared with ‘hakkapatas’, which killed 69 elephants. In 2010, electrocutions accounted for only 4% out of the total 227 elephant deaths that year, but in 2021 it accounted for 18% of 375 deaths.
The tusker Barana was killed recently, and Revatha was killed last year due to electrocution.
Fences protecting farmland are linked to the main electricity lines. An electric fence is powered by an energiser, which converts mains electricity or that from a 12V car battery to a high voltage (6000-9000 V) low amperage (around 100 mAmps) DC pulse of about 1 per second. Such fences give a tremendous ‘shock’ on contact, but do not cause any harm. Connecting the mains electricity or an inverter to a fence means it carries a continuous current of 240V 5 Amps AC.
Dr. Prithviraj Fernando, an elephant biologist, said the electric shock interferes with the heart rhythm and causes burns and damage to internal organs. “It is illegal to set up such lethal fences, or power lines. Any animal coming into contact with such fences will get killed.’’
The majestic Barana died of electrocution recently. Pic by Milinda Wattegedara
The DWC Director General Chandana Sooriyabandara said suspects are arrested.
But often, those responsible plead guilty and pay the Rs 500,000 fine for killing an elephant. It is also illegal to get electricity from the national grid without approval, but the penalty is not enough, he said.
Mr. Sooriyabandara said that there are those who are involved in farming who link their fences to the main grid.
DWC former Director General Sumith Pilapitiya, told the Sunday Times, that electrocutions are prevalent in areas where the human elephant conflict is high and the houses and farmlands are connected to the electricity grid. “Connecting a household electrical supply directly to a fence is illegal, so both the electricity board and the DWC can take action.’’
Dr Fernando said that judging by the data, electrocution is becoming a method of choice for killing elephants. “Culprits linked to shootings, or the use of ‘hakkapatas’ may be difficult to find, but it is not the case with electrocutions as the elephant is often found fallen near the fence, so authorities can easily apprehend the person responsible. If all were apprehended, charged, prosecuted, and penalised, what it reflects is that the penalty for such action is not a deterrent, so it is important to raise penalties.
“But, more importantly, Sri Lanka needs to have a system of detection and prosecution, not waiting till another elephant death occurs.’’
An elephant suspected to have died of electrocution was found in Vavuniya last week
Dr Pilapitiya said: “In addition to significantly increasing the penalties for illegally connecting household electricity to their fences, there are other measures that can be taken. I feel that DWC should work with CEB and reach an agreement that if any person illegally connects their household electricity supply to a fence and kills an elephant, the CEB will disconnect their household electricity supply for 10 years. Regulations may have to be amended, but I think this will be a much more effective deterrent than what is available at present.
“Ideally checks should be done in areas with grid connected electricity where there are agricultural lands near households with grid electricity to see if there are power lines connected directly to the fences. By such checks, we can prevent possible electrocutions, which is much better than penalising people after the elephant is dead.’’
The DWC does not have enough staff to check fencing, but it could work with the CEB to get the services of meter readers to do that job, he said.
It was heard in the Committee on Public Enterprises hearings that meter readers are getting paid an additional incentive for providing accurate readings, Dr. Pilapitiya said.
Sri Lanka has the highest Asian elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) density in the world, but 70% of the wild elephants roaming outside protected areas create conflict with people. The 2011 survey shows Sri Lanka is home to about 6,500 elephants But, statistics indicate that from 2010 to the present, over 3,500 elephants have been killed. Most are victims of the HEC. More than 1,100 people also have lost their lives.
Soon after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president, he set up a committee involving the leading elephant biologists, conservationists, Government, and other conservation agencies to propose a strategic plan related to HEC. A plan was handed over to him in 2020, but recommendations were not adopted.
Dr Pilapitiya said that “if the Government implements the plan, even on a district-by-district basis, I am very confident that we can get the conflict under control in a few years’’.
COLOMBO — Mahalingam Kanapathi set off from his hometown of Beruwala in southwestern Sri Lanka in May 2021. Less than a month later, and nearly 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) away, the fishing boat he captained was seized by the coast guard of Seychelles.
Kanapathi was charged and tried for illegal fishing in Seychelles waters. He was convicted and ordered to pay a fine of 2.5 million Seychelles rupees, or about $174,000. Unable to do so, he was sentenced to two years in jail.
Kanapathi’s case is part of an increasingly common pattern of Sri Lankan fishermen, often from Beruwala, engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the waters of other countries and territories in the Indian Ocean. IUU fishing, as it’s known, is thought to account for about 20% of the world’s total fish catch, undermining efforts for sustainable fishing.
COLOMBO — Mahalingam Kanapathi set off from his hometown of Beruwala in southwestern Sri Lanka in May 2021. Less than a month later, and nearly 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) away, the fishing boat he captained was seized by the coast guard of Seychelles.
Kanapathi was charged and tried for illegal fishing in Seychelles waters. He was convicted and ordered to pay a fine of 2.5 million Seychelles rupees, or about $174,000. Unable to do so, he was sentenced to two years in jail.
Kanapathi’s case is part of an increasingly common pattern of Sri Lankan fishermen, often from Beruwala, engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the waters of other countries and territories in the Indian Ocean. IUU fishing, as it’s known, is thought to account for about 20% of the world’s total fish catch, undermining efforts for sustainable fishing.
While the massive, distant-water industrial fleets like those of China and South Korea have come to epitomize IUU fishing, in Sri Lanka the practice largely the domain of traditional fishers. These fishers have from historical times engaged in what’s known as “island job,” or dupath rassawa in the Sinhala language — fishing in the shallow coastal waters off small islands. And the abundance of such islands throughout the western Indian Ocean — from the British-administered Diego Garcia to Seychelles, Mauritius and the Maldives, to the Myanmar and Bangladesh islets in the Bay of Bengal — gives the fishermen plenty of choice, says Anthony Thomas, a fisherman.
“We know that it is illegal to fish in these foreign waters without a permit, but we can easily catch more fish than by fishing in Sri Lankan waters, so we often do this as the yield is worth the risk,” says Thomas, who, like Kanapathi, is also from Beruwala, and who has also experienced being caught and jailed for illegal fishing in Seychelles. In Thomas’s case, though, he spent only a few weeks in custody. “Our boat and the gear were confiscated, but the owner of the boat paid the fine and then Seychelles repatriated us,” Thomas tells Mongabay.
A Seychelles patrol vessel sailing alongside a Sri Lankan fishing boat taken into custody for illegal fishing, courtesy of the Seychelles People’s Defence Force.
Fishing in troubled waters
He says he knows other fishermen who go out every year to fish in other countries’ waters. The threat of a fine and a short stint in jail hasn’t managed to deter the practice, prompting authorities in some of these jurisdictions, including Seychelles, to start imposing stiffer penalties. The court in Seychelles that sentenced Kanapathi, for instance, said previous sentencing patterns “have not been sending the right signal back to their home state,” allowing foreign fishers to continue treating Seychelles waters as “an El Dorado for illegal fishing.”
Diego Garcia, part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, sits inside the Chagos Marine Protected Area, one of the largest marine reserves in the world. It’s a rich fisheries habitat that draws Sri Lankan vessels for illegal fishing: between 2010 and 2020, 91 of the 120 vessels seized there for illegal fishing were flying the Sri Lankan flag, according to official data from Diego Garcia. Most of them were from Beruwala, and their target was sharks.
There were more than 14,300 arrests in connection with illegal shark fishing in the area during that same period, according to a 2021 study.
“The study’s results also highlighted the grim reality that we have overfished the sharks in our waters, so the fishermen have to keep on going out to foreign waters,” said Asha de Vos, a marine biologist who co-authored the study.
The control room of the vessel monitoring system located within the fisheries department. Image courtesy of the Sri Lankan Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR).
Series of arrests
According to Sri Lanka’s Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR), 121 multi-day fishing boats flying the country’s flag were seized in foreign waters from 2019 to 2021. Of these, 31 were seized in the Maldives, 19 in Diego Garcia, 10 in Seychelles, four in Bangladesh, and three in Myanmar. Fifty-four vessels were apprehended in Indian waters.
The latest reported case occurred last November, when authorities in Myanmar seized a Sri Lankan vessel carrying seven fishermen. One of them was a 60-year-old with multiple ailments, and another was the father of a 5-month-old baby. In most of these cases, the fishermen tend to be the sole earners in their families, and their arrest has massive repercussions back home.
“When we continue to fish, we often have closer contact with other boats, so if we found any approaching boat, we receive alerts,” Thomas says of the informal network that helps the fishermen evade arrest. “There are times when we abandon our gear and move to evade the coast guard.”
But often they see the fishing effort as worth the risk, so the tradition continues even though they know it’s illegal, Thomas says.
As fish populations decline in Sri Lankan waters, fishermen say they can catch bigger sharks in foreign waters, and that the risk is worth it. Image by Malaka Rodrigo.
EU ban on fish imports
In 2014, the European Union cited IUU fishing practices as the main reason for imposing a ban on imports of fish from Sri Lanka. This had a crippling effect on the island’s seafood industry and associated livelihoods. The EU lifted the ban in 2016 after the Sri Lankan government initiated steps to curb IUU fishing, including imposing a vessel monitoring system (VMS) on multi-day boats that sail beyond Sri Lankan waters.
Sri Lanka has about 4,200 registered multi-day fishing boats, of which around 1,500 operate in international waters and all fitted with VMS equipment for easy vessel tracking. These high-seas vessels are all licensed to fish in international waters, but not in the waters of other jurisdictions — typically defined as within 200 nautical miles (370 km) of those countries’ coast.
To get around the ban on IUU fishing in Sri Lankan waters, these vessels engage in IUU fishing in international waters, says Kalyani Hewapathirana, director of fishing operations at the DFAR.
She says her office’s focus is to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing, whether inside Sri Lankan waters or outside. To that end, the country in 2011 ratified the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s agreement on port state measures (PSM), which went into force in 2016. Under the agreement, signatory countries must prevent vessels engaged in IUU fishing from using their ports or landing their catches.
The Sri Lankan government has also prepared and implemented a national plan of action, in line with the FAO’s international plan of action, to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing, Hewapathirana tells Mongabay. Sri Lankan officials are also collaborating with their counterparts in Australia and taking steps to introduce VMS across the wider multi-day boat fleet, she says.
This means that Sri Lankan vessels in breach of international maritime law will have their license suspended. The VMS team also monitors cases of departing boats that stop transmitting signals — a practice that’s often associated with vessels attempting to engage in IUU fishing undetected.
While the massive, distant-water industrial fleets like those of China and South Korea have come to epitomize IUU fishing, in Sri Lanka the practice largely the domain of traditional fishers. These fishers have from historical times engaged in what’s known as “island job,” or dupath rassawa in the Sinhala language — fishing in the shallow coastal waters off small islands. And the abundance of such islands throughout the western Indian Ocean — from the British-administered Diego Garcia to Seychelles, Mauritius and the Maldives, to the Myanmar and Bangladesh islets in the Bay of Bengal — gives the fishermen plenty of choice, says Anthony Thomas, a fisherman.
“We know that it is illegal to fish in these foreign waters without a permit, but we can easily catch more fish than by fishing in Sri Lankan waters, so we often do this as the yield is worth the risk,” says Thomas, who, like Kanapathi, is also from Beruwala, and who has also experienced being caught and jailed for illegal fishing in Seychelles. In Thomas’s case, though, he spent only a few weeks in custody. “Our boat and the gear were confiscated, but the owner of the boat paid the fine and then Seychelles repatriated us,” Thomas tells Mongabay.
The Sampath-7 fishing vessel was confiscated in Seychelles waters in June 2021. Image courtesy of the Seychelles People’s Defence Force.
Fishing in troubled waters
He says he knows other fishermen who go out every year to fish in other countries’ waters. The threat of a fine and a short stint in jail hasn’t managed to deter the practice, prompting authorities in some of these jurisdictions, including Seychelles, to start imposing stiffer penalties. The court in Seychelles that sentenced Kanapathi, for instance, said previous sentencing patterns “have not been sending the right signal back to their home state,” allowing foreign fishers to continue treating Seychelles waters as “an El Dorado for illegal fishing.”
Diego Garcia, part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, sits inside the Chagos Marine Protected Area, one of the largest marine reserves in the world. It’s a rich fisheries habitat that draws Sri Lankan vessels for illegal fishing: between 2010 and 2020, 91 of the 120 vessels seized there for illegal fishing were flying the Sri Lankan flag, according to official data from Diego Garcia. Most of them were from Beruwala, and their target was sharks.
There were more than 14,300 arrests in connection with illegal shark fishing in the area during that same period, according to a 2021 study.
“The study’s results also highlighted the grim reality that we have overfished the sharks in our waters, so the fishermen have to keep on going out to foreign waters,” said Asha de Vos, a marine biologist who co-authored the study.
The control room of the vessel monitoring system located within the fisheries department. Image courtesy of the Sri Lankan Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR).
Series of arrests
According to Sri Lanka’s Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR), 121 multi-day fishing boats flying the country’s flag were seized in foreign waters from 2019 to 2021. Of these, 31 were seized in the Maldives, 19 in Diego Garcia, 10 in Seychelles, four in Bangladesh, and three in Myanmar. Fifty-four vessels were apprehended in Indian waters.
The latest reported case occurred last November, when authorities in Myanmar seized a Sri Lankan vessel carrying seven fishermen. One of them was a 60-year-old with multiple ailments, and another was the father of a 5-month-old baby. In most of these cases, the fishermen tend to be the sole earners in their families, and their arrest has massive repercussions back home.
“When we continue to fish, we often have closer contact with other boats, so if we found any approaching boat, we receive alerts,” Thomas says of the informal network that helps the fishermen evade arrest. “There are times when we abandon our gear and move to evade the coast guard.”
But often they see the fishing effort as worth the risk, so the tradition continues even though they know it’s illegal, Thomas says.
As fish populations decline in Sri Lankan waters, fishermen say they can catch bigger sharks in foreign waters, and that the risk is worth it. Image by Malaka Rodrigo.
EU ban on fish imports
In 2014, the European Union cited IUU fishing practices as the main reason for imposing a ban on imports of fish from Sri Lanka. This had a crippling effect on the island’s seafood industry and associated livelihoods. The EU lifted the ban in 2016 after the Sri Lankan government initiated steps to curb IUU fishing, including imposing a vessel monitoring system (VMS) on multi-day boats that sail beyond Sri Lankan waters.
Sri Lanka has about 4,200 registered multi-day fishing boats, of which around 1,500 operate in international waters and all fitted with VMS equipment for easy vessel tracking. These high-seas vessels are all licensed to fish in international waters, but not in the waters of other jurisdictions — typically defined as within 200 nautical miles (370 km) of those countries’ coast.
To get around the ban on IUU fishing in Sri Lankan waters, these vessels engage in IUU fishing in international waters, says Kalyani Hewapathirana, director of fishing operations at the DFAR.
She says her office’s focus is to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing, whether inside Sri Lankan waters or outside. To that end, the country in 2011 ratified the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s agreement on port state measures (PSM), which went into force in 2016. Under the agreement, signatory countries must prevent vessels engaged in IUU fishing from using their ports or landing their catches.
The Sri Lankan government has also prepared and implemented a national plan of action, in line with the FAO’s international plan of action, to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing, Hewapathirana tells Mongabay. Sri Lankan officials are also collaborating with their counterparts in Australia and taking steps to introduce VMS across the wider multi-day boat fleet, she says.
This means that Sri Lankan vessels in breach of international maritime law will have their license suspended. The VMS team also monitors cases of departing boats that stop transmitting signals — a practice that’s often associated with vessels attempting to engage in IUU fishing undetected.
Banner image of a Seychelles patrol vessel sailing alongside a Sri Lankan fishing boat taken into custody for illegal fishing, courtesy of the Seychelles People’s Defence Force.
The sinking a year ago of the cargo vessel the X-Press Pearl was responsible for the single worst incident of plastic marine pollution in the world, according to a committee assessing the damages from the disaster.
The ship caught fire off Colombo and eventually sank, leaking its cargo that contained 25 metric tons of nitric acid and some 50 billion plastic pellets.
A year later, pellets are still washing up on shore and being cleared away by volunteers, while Sri Lanka tries to claim damages from the ship’s Singapore-based operators.
It has received $3.7 million as initial compensation, but experts say the full compensation for the environmental damage could be as high as $7 billion — a figure that would be a lifeline for Sri Lanka as it experiences the worst economic crisis in its history.
Acluster of nurdles found on Sri Lanka’s southern coast. Seabirds and crows often mistake these nurdles for food, because they resemble fish eggs. Image courtesy of the Pearl Protectors.
COLOMBO — A year since the sinking of the cargo ship the X-Press Pearl, Sri Lanka continues to clean its beaches of the plastic pellets that the vessel was carrying, and still trying to claim compensation for the environmental damage wrought.
An expert committee investigating the extent of damage to the country’s marine and coastal environment has now concluded the disaster to be the worst in terms of chemical and plastic pollution of the sea. That’s according to Ajith de Alwis, co-chair of the X-Press Pearl damage assessment committee and a professor of chemical and process engineering at the University of Moratuwa.
The committee has submitted its assessment report to the Attorney General’s Office for use in claiming compensation from the Singapore-based operators of the ship.
“However, the report is only the first edition of the damage assessment, and further assessments would continue based on the monitoring,” De Alwis told Mongabay.
Maritime law expert Dan Malika Gunasekera said Sri Lankan authorities have taken a long time to file for compensation and are reluctant to go through years of strenuous legal battles in international courts. Sri Lanka has obtained an interim payment of $3.7 million in damages, but the country could claim as much as $5 billion to $7 billion, according to Gunasekera.
With Sri Lanka currently mired in the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, those higher numbers would prove a much-needed injection of foreign currency. But further delays would diminish the cash-strapped island’s chance of getting sufficient compensation for the environmental damage, Gunasekera told Mongabay.
Salvation work is underway to raise the wreck of the X-Press Pearl and dismantle it. Image courtesy of X-Press Feeders.
Worst plastic marine pollution event
X-Press Pearl was carrying 1,486 containers when it caught fire off Colombo on May 20, 2021, and began sinking. Eighty-one of the containers were labeled hazardous, and the cargo included 25 metric tons of nitric acid — a key ingredient in the production of explosives, and touted as a possible factor for the fire. There were several explosions, and it took more than a week to bring the fire under control. Attempts to tow the vessel to deeper waters failed, and the freighter finally sank on June 2, 2021, a few kilometers off Sri Lanka’s western coast.
The ship was also carrying 400 containers of nurdles, the plastic pellets from which all manufactured plastic goods are made. The spill of the more than 50 billion pellets made this the worst plastic marine pollution event in the world, with the pellets quickly spreading along the beaches of Sri Lanka’s western coast.
The sinking of the X-Press Pearl cargo ship has resulted in the world’s single worst incident of plastic marine pollution. Image courtesy of the U.N. Advisory Mission Report.
The government carried out an initial cleanup of the beaches, but subsequent cleaning was done by volunteers like the Pearl Protectors, a youth organization.
“We had 28 major cleaning operations on main beaches and could collect as much as 1,500 kilograms [3,300 pounds] of nurdles,” said Muditha Katuwawala, coordinator of the Pearl Protectors.
But more nurdles keep washing up on the beaches, and with the island currently experiencing the southwest monsoon, nurdles that had initially sunk to the seabed or were trapped in underwater structures such as corals have been washed free and are making landfall.
“So it needs to be continuous work” cleaning up the beaches, Katuwawala said.
The Pearl Protectors, like other volunteer organizations around the program, are suffering from the economic crisis. The cost of organizing has doubled in the span of the last few months, with inflation hitting a record 39% in May. The country has defaulted on loan payments for the first time, while the local currency, the rupee, has nosedived against the U.S. dollar.
A container from the X-Press Pearl floating in the sea. Image courtesy of the Sri Lankan Marine Environment Protection Agency (MEPA).
Salvage operation
As for the wreck of the X-Press Pearl, it’s now being salvaged by the Shanghai Salvage Company (SSC), which was handed the task by the ship’s owners, Singapore-based X-Press Feeders. In a statement, X-Press Feeders said the salvage operation includes round-the-clock monitoring to deal with debris or other pollutants that may get dislodged during the operation. It also said regular water sampling will be carried out at the site, and that any oil spills will be responded to immediately.
According to SSC, the X-Press Pearl’s hull has essentially broken in half, so the wreck will be recovered as two separate sections. Operations were suspended at the end of April due to rough seas caused by the southwest monsoon.
Cleanly separating the two halves of the hull is due to start in November, after the monsoon, while the actual lifting is expected to begin in February 2023. The final phase, to be completed by September 2023, will see the wreck completely dismantled, recycled, and disposed of.
Nurdle displacement after the X-Press Pearl marine disaster. Image courtesy of the U.N. Advisory Mission Report.
Lack of baseline studies
Terney Pradeep Kumara, a marine biologist who previously headed Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Agency (MEPA), said it’s important to collect data during the salvation operation that can serve as evidence linking the environmental pollution to the X-Press Pearl. In the aftermath of the ship accident, marine biologists noted an unusually high number of sea turtle mortalities, which they suspect was the result of the pollution, but for which they currently lack definitive evidence.
‘Not having a baseline of the environmental conditions has been one of the biggest challenges in doing this environmental assessment,” said Prasanthi Gunawardene, the other co-chair of the X-Press Pearl damage assessment committee. There were about 30 different subcommittees with members from different fields, and getting input from different government agencies in the monitoring process was a challenge, Gunawardene told Mongabay.
Sri Lanka’s artisanal fishers are catching more manta and devil rays every year, including endangered species, than all global large industrial purse seine fisheries combined, a study shows.
Manta and devil rays, collectively known as mobulid rays, have slow reproductive rates, so even low to moderate levels of bycatch can have major impacts on their populations.
Driving their overexploitation is increased demand for their gill plates, prized in traditional Chinese medicine; before 2010, mobulid rays caught as bycatch were often released at sea due to lack of demand, but with the growth of the gill plate trade, they are increasingly brought to shore.
ll the six species of mobulid rays found in Sri Lanka are endangered under the IUCN Red List, but none of them receive legal protection, even though Sri Lanka is a signatory to international treaties that require measures to protect these species.
a pile of pectoral fins of mobulid rays courtesy of Daniel Fernando/Blue Resources Trust.
COLOMBO — When fishermen in southern Sri Lanka recently caught a giant oceanic manta ray, they needed a backhoe to haul it out of the water once they reached land. Weighing 800 kilograms, or nearly 1,800 pounds, the catch drew much local attention. It sold for 170,000 rupees, or about $470, and soon this endangered animal, Mobula birostris, was cut up into a pile of meat.
This isn’t an unusual occurrence in Sri Lanka, where artisanal fishers catch and kill a large number of manta and devil rays, known collectively as mobulid rays, every year.
A study published last year calculated that this annual catch far exceeds the estimated annual capture of mobulid rays by all global industrial purse seine fisheries combined, indicating a far more serious situation than previously thought.
The nine-year study, by researchers from the Blue Resources Trust in Sri Lanka and the Manta Trust in the U.K., shows how the spinetail devil ray (Mobula mobular) is being fished at rates that are much higher than the species’ natural population growth rate. It also highlights that the average sizes of all mobulids, except for the oceanic manta ray, are shrinking.
But there’s plenty of concern over the fate of the latter: notwithstanding the recent 800-kg catch, landings of oceanic manta rays are predominantly those of juvenile individuals, indicating that fishers are exploiting a potential nursery ground for the species in the waters off Sri Lanka.
A giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris). Image courtesy of Guy Stevens.
Declining populations
Other than the oceanic manta ray, five species of mobulid rays are recorded in Sri Lankan waters: the spinetail devil ray, sicklefin devil ray (M. tarapacana), bentfin devil ray (M. thurstoni), shortfin devil ray (M. kuhlii), and longhorned pygmy devil ray (M. eregoodoo), all of them categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Mobulid rays, closely related to sharks, mature late and have slow reproductive rates and long gestation periods. This means that even low to moderate levels of fishing can lead to a decline in their population very quickly, said study co-author Daniel Fernando, a marine biologist and co-founder of the Blue Resources Trust. The study provides valuable insights into the various species’ life history, population trends and fisheries in Sri Lanka, highlighting the urgent need to protect them to prevent population collapse, Fernando told Mongabay.
The study was conducted from 2011 to 2020 across 38 fish landing sites around Sri Lanka. The field surveying team first gathered data on catch numbers, body size, sex and maturity status for the five mobulid species. They recorded mobulid rays at 21 of the 38 landing sites, totaling 6,516 individuals.
Of these, the spinetail devil ray was the most frequent species, accounting for 75% of the catches, with 4,898 individuals. The sicklefin devil ray was next (17.1%, or 1,114 individuals), followed by the oceanic manta ray (4.6%, or 299 individuals), bentfin devil ray (1.4%, or 93 individuals), and shortfin devil ray (0.9%, or 59 individuals).
Gill nets record high bycatch rates, so it’s essential to regulate their use to achieve sustainable fisheries, experts say. Image courtesy of Daniel Fernando/Blue Resources Trust.
High rates of catch
“What is greatly concerning is that our models estimate that over 1,000 oceanic manta rays, 11,000 spinetail devil rays, 5,000 sicklefin devil rays, and 500 shortfin devil rays have landed at these 38 monitored sites annually,” Fernando said. “When we also consider that Sri Lanka has an additional 883 fishery landing sites, the total annual catch estimates for manta and devil rays is extremely high.”
Another worrying finding from the research is that the individuals being caught are increasingly smaller, “decreasing by 1-2% [in body size] each year, indicating that they may be experiencing unsustainable levels of capture.”
Nearly half of the individuals that the researchers recorded were immature, including some pups. The researchers also documented the first, and to date only, record of the longhorned pygmy devil ray in Sri Lanka.
Mobulid rays are filter feeders, running large volumes of water through their gill plates to catch plankton. Dried gill plates are popular in traditional Chinese medicine, and demand for them has fueled an increase in fishing effort and retention of these species in bycatch fisheries.
“Through interviews with fishers, we found that before the demand for gill plates came about somewhere between 2000 and 2010, fishers often released the large rays entangled in their nets and also avoided putting their gill nets in the ocean if a mobulid ray was seen,” Fernando said. “But now things have changed and they bring them back to shore. The value as fresh meat, or dried meat, is extremely low compared to other fish. The gill plates are the primary driver of the fishery.”
Sri Lanka is the top killer of mobulid rays, according to a study, with its small-scale artisanal fisheries fleet using gill nets to particularly deadly effect. Image courtesy of Shanika Perera/Blue Resources Trust.
No incentive to stop fishing
Mobulid rays are often landed as bycatch by the gill net fisheries that primarily target skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and billfish, according to the study. In Sri Lanka, the most-used gear type in small-scale fisheries is the gill net (56%), which are responsible for an even higher proportion of incidental bycatch.
Many fishers also use gill nets in combination with long lines or ring nets to target yellowfin and skipjack tuna. Getting fishers to give up these highly effective methods will be extremely difficult, especially now, as Sri Lanka experiences the worst economic crisis in its history, said Arjan Rajasuriya, a marine ecologist and a former research officer at the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).
Operating a fishing boat is expensive, and fishers have been hit by skyrocketing fuel costs and runaway inflation that impacts on equipment costs, worker salaries and other operating expenses. At the same time, fishery resources are declining, meaning more fishing effort is needed to haul in the same catch as before. So even if mobulid rays in Sri Lankan waters are protected, it would be an uphill task to enforce the law on the struggling fishers, Rajasuriya told Mongabay.
The severed head of a giant oceanic manta ray at a fishing port. Image courtesy of Daniel Fernando/Blue Resources Trust.
Not a conservation priority
Historically, marine species have often been overlooked for conservation, which has instead tended to focus on the more visible terrestrial wildlife, Fernando said.
“The Asian elephant inhabiting the Sri Lankan wildernesses is also categorized as endangered and there is generally a big uproar when they get killed, but it is sad the same attention is not given to the endangered marine animals such as manta and devil rays, or other similarly threatened sharks and rays including the sawfishes and rhino rays, especially considering that some of them have even much higher threat levels,” he told Mongabay.
“It is not an easy situation in Sri Lanka where we rely heavily on marine resources for both food and income. What will be the future of fisher communities if we allow overfishing and directly cause population collapses? We must transition toward sustainable fisheries management, which would allow us to increase our product value while catching less,” Fernando added.
The gill plates from manta rays, which they use to filter out plankton from seawater, are dried and used in traditional Chinese medicine. Image courtesy of Daniel Fernando/Blue Resources Trust.
Rima Jabado, founder of the Elasmo Project that works on shark and ray conservation and chair of the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group, welcomed the findings from the recent study as key to guiding mobulid conservation measures in Sri Lanka.
“The recently updated IUCN Red List indicates that the mobulid ray species found in Sri Lanka are threatened, so the work being undertaken to research and monitor shark and ray fisheries like this is critical to gather data that can inform management,” she said. She called on Sri Lanka and other countries to introduce national regulations to effectively protect these species.
Sri Lanka is obliged to do so under regional and international commitments that it has signed up to. This includes the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, which calls for conservation and management measures for mobulid rays (Resolution 19/03). The Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) also extends protection to mobulid rays from capture under Appendix I, while any international trade of their gill plates requires export permits due to their listing on Appendix II on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, CITES clearly prohibits the issuing of permits if the specimens are obtained in violation of other national commitments such as CMS and IOTC.
The removal of the high-value gill plates needs to be done with care, and each landing site has a handful of fishermen with the requisite skills. Image courtesy of Daniel Fernando/Blue Resources Trust.
Number one mobuild killer
Jagath Gunawardana, a veteran environmental law expert in Sri Lanka, said it’s sad that the country is the number one mobulid killer in the world.
“We should take the Maldives as an example, for they took timely action to protect these magnificent creatures as far back as 1995 and even declared marine protection zones with the intention to protect these magnificent species,” Gunawardana told Mongabay.
He added it’s possible for Sri Lanka to legally protect mobulid rays through either the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO) or the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act by including these species in the respective annexes of protected species. This order can be given by the relevant ministers through a gazette notification, Gunawardana said.
Citation:
Fernando, D., & Stewart, J. D. (2021). High bycatch rates of manta and devil rays in the “small-scale” artisanal fisheries of Sri Lanka. PeerJ, 9. doi:10.7717/peerj.11994
The Jaffna Peninsula at the northern tip of Sri Lanka, off-limits for decades because of the country’s civil war, is home to one of the richest collections of corals on the island, a study shows.
Led by Jaffna native Ashani Arulananthan, the survey cataloged 113 species of hard coral, of which 36 have never been found anywhere else in Sri Lanka.
Along with the high diversity, the researchers also found less damage from bleaching than in coral reefs elsewhere in Sri Lanka; however, they did note signs of degradation from pollution and fishing activity.
Arulananthan says it’s important to conserve these diverse coral communities, which show a higher resilience to climate change impacts than other reefs around Sri Lanka.
A healthy coral reef found in Point Pedro on the northern Jaffna Peninsula, courtesy of Anura Upasanta.
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Ashani Arulananthan says she can recall childhood visits to the beach in her home village in Sri Lanka’s northern district of Jaffna. She would collect washed-up pieces of coral, and her father would share his own memories of the dazzling beauty of coral reefs emerging during low tide.
This sparked her interest in corals and set her off on the path toward science. Today, Arulananthan is a researcher at the University of Peradeniya, and lead author of a 2021 study cataloging the rich coral diversity of her native Jaffa Peninsula.
For decades, research in Jaffna, and indeed much of northern Sri Lanka, was virtually impossible because of security reasons: The region was under the control of the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE, the rebel group waging a civil war against the Sri Lankan government. With the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the northern region slowly began to open up. Arulananthan and her colleagues carried out their coral survey from March 2017 to August 2018.
Their headline finding is the sheer wealth of coral biodiversity along the very northern tip of the Jaffna Peninsula and a handful of nearby islands in Palk Bay. They found 113 species of hard, or scleractinian, corals, 36 of which have never been recorded anywhere else in Sri Lanka.
Researchers discovered most of the coral reefs found in Sri Lanka’s northern seas to be in good condition. Image courtesy of Akila Harishchandra.
Challenging research
Arulananthan tells Mongabay she knew it would be a difficult task to research the corals in Jaffna. Most corals in Jaffna form what are known as fringing reefs, which that grow seaward directly from the shore. But there are several islands that have corals around them that run as deep as 20 meters (66 feet), so it was essential to find capable divers to study them.
For this, Arulananthan turned to the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) and Ocean University of Sri Lanka for access to their expert divers. The divers took photos during the surveys at each site, which were then used to identify each coral species.
Healthy intermediate valley coral (Oulophyllia crispa) found at one of the study sites in Jaffna, in Sri Lanka’s north. Image courtesy of Ashani Arulananthan.
The researchers also gathered coral samples to carry out DNA analysis for species that were harder to identify. This posed its own challenges. The first set of samples proved failures as the DNA was contaminated. Arulananthan then had to find a way to preserve the samples until she could get them to a lab at the University of Peradeniya, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) away.
In the end, their efforts paid off. In addition to identifying the coral species, the survey also found a high level of average live coral cover along the Jaffna Peninsula, at 48.5%; in the surrounding islands, there was an average of 27% live coral cover. That means this region “has the highest live coral cover among the regions of Sri Lanka,” the study says.
And while corals in southern and northwestern Sri Lanka have suffered from severe bleaching events, those in the northern Jaffna Peninsula remain relatively untouched and maintain a rich diversity, says study co-author Anura Upasanta, a researcher at the Ocean University of Sri Lanka, who also dived to collect samples for the survey.
Ashani Arulananthan snorkeling and taking notes about the status of the corals underwater. Image courtesy of Ashani Arulananthan.
Climate-resilient corals
It’s not all good news for the corals in this region, however. Large stretches of reefs are being degraded by pollution or fishing activity, Arulananthan tells Mongabay. Because the corals found here are unusually resilient to climatic change and are likely to survive even harsher conditions, it’s important that they be protected and preserved, Arulananthan says.
The researchers also surveyed corals on four islands near the tip of the peninsula. These were found to be heavily degraded, with a high percentage of dead coral, the researchers say. They identified sewage discharge, destructive fishing practices, poorly managed resource exploitation, dredging, higher algal cover, and increasing sea surface temperatures as the main threats to coral survival.
“Most fishermen do not understand the value of corals which they consider only to be an obstacle for fishing as corals get entangled in fishing nets,” Arulananthan says.
To address this problem, Arulananthan held a series of awareness-raising discussions with Jaffna fishing communities, teaching them about the value of corals as the primary breeding ground for the fish they catch. She also conducted lectures for school students in Jaffna to raise awareness about the value of corals as ecosystems. She says she found there was little or no understanding among the community about the key role that corals play as a natural buffer during high tides, and especially in reducing the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Professional divers helped the researchers photograph and take samples from corals as deep as 20 meters (66 feet) including reefs damaged by blast fishing. Image courtesy of Ashani Arulananthan.
Study co-author Sivashanthini Kuganathan, head of the Department of Fisheries Science at the University of Jaffna, said the lack of funding for continued research is hampering further study.
Leading Sri Lankan coral expert Arjan Rajasuriya, a former research officer at NARA who was not involved in the study, welcomed the new findings as enriching the body of knowledge about Sri Lanka’s northern corals.
“Due to the long years of violent conflict, most of our work was not done in the northern waters,” says Rajasuriya, one of the few researchers who has consistently studied the Jaffna region corals.
Rajasuriya says the outcomes of studies like the recent one and his own should inform decision-making when it comes to coral conservation and management. But unfortunately, he says, in Sri Lanka this isn’t the case.
Citation:
Arulananthan, A., Herath, V., Kuganathan, S., Upasanta, A., & Harishchandra, A. (2021). The status of the coral reefs of the Jaffna Peninsula (Northern Sri Lanka), with 36 coral species new to Sri Lanka confirmed by DNA bar-coding. Oceans, 2(3), 509-529. doi:10.3390/oceans2030029
Sri Lanka holds the dubious record of killing the most mantas and devil rays compared with all global and large industrial purse seine fisheries combined.
A survey of local fish markets from 2005 to 2020 also has revealed that this level of manta fishing is not sustainable.
According to the Manta Trust, manta and devil rays, known collectively as mobulids, are some of the most beautiful, fascinating, and enigmatic creatures in the tropical oceans. These fish are close relatives of sharks and have a diet of plankton that they filter feed while on the move.
Like the sharks, these mobulid rays have a very low reproductive rate, where some become sexually mature in about 10 years and then the female gives birth to a single pup after a gestation period of about a year.
A giant manta ray swims like a flying saucer. Pix by Simon Hilbourne/ Manta Trust
“Hundreds of mobulid rays are caught on a daily basis in our waters, so one does not need to be a genius to conclude they would soon be overfished,” says Daniel Fernando, a marine biologist of the Blue Resources Trust.
Mr. Fernando and the team surveyed fish landing sites over nine years between 2011 and 2020, covering 38 landing sites in Sri Lanka. They collected data on catch numbers, body sizes, sex, and maturity status for five mobulid species. The data revealed that giant devil ray (mobula mobular) is being fished at rates far above the species’ population growth rate, and the average sizes of all mobulids in the fishery except for giant oceanic mantas are declining.
As per a report on the Global Threat to Manta and Mubula rays, out of the 3,409 manta rays captured by 13 countries a year during the study, Sri Lanka’s fishing fleet caught 1,055; or one-third. But, when considering all the mobula rays, the total global catch recorded a year was 100,053; while the Sri Lankan fishing fleet was responsible for 56,552; accounting for nearly 60% of the global catch.
International demand over the last decade for mobulid gill plates — the cartilaginous structures that filter plankton from the water column — for traditional Chinese medicine has directly led to an increase in fishing and retention of these species in bycatch fisheries. In Sri Lanka, they often get entangled in gill nets.
“Earlier, we were not interested in these rays and sometimes throw them away, as ray flesh is low value. And we prefer to keep space in our boats for the more profitable tuna,” said Mr Roy Thomas, a fisherman in Negombo who works in a multi-day boat. “But, now, these rays earn more money due to the demand for gill plates, so we bring them in.’’ There are some regular buyers and they remove the gill plates to clean and process for export, he said.
Mr. Fernando is also an associate director of Manta Trust, a global organisation dedicated to the conservation of mantas and other mobulid. The trust has a flagship project in Maldives, where the scientists have made the manta population the most studied in the world. The Maldives has several sites where the reef manta ray (mobula alfredi) visits seasonally depending on plankton availability.
In Maldives, speeding by tourists who come to watch mantas is estimated at US$8.1 million a year in direct revenue, based on a study in 2010. This amounts to spending of US$500 to US$4,000 a week.
“When you kill and sell a manta, it would be a one-off transaction, but if such tourism can be built, then Sri Lanka, too, may have the potential to earn dollars,” says Mr. Fernando.
Mantas are butchered in Sri Lanka as they are not a protected species
But, so far there are no recorded sites of manta rays gathering in Sri Lankan waters. Local waters seem to be an important nursery ground. A large number of mantas caught in Sri Lankan waters are juveniles, the marine biologist said.
The species found in the Sri Lankan territorial waters is the giant oceanic manta ray (mobula birostris) which is now globally ‘endangered’, Mr. Fernando said.
It can grow up to 9 metres (30 feet) maximum and to a disc size of 7m (23 ft) across with a weight of about 3,000 kilos. But, those caught in Sri Lankan waters is less than half this size.
Simon Hilbourne, a British marine scientist of the Manta Trust, studies the giant oceanic manta rays in the Maldives and Sri Lanka. He says more research is needed.
“The home range of some populations have been found to be around 100 kilometres, which is not a long distance in terms of oceanic measures,”Mr. Hilbourne said.
Research by the trust also found a possible breeding aggregation of the giant oceanic mantas near the Maldivian island of Fuvahmulah.
“But, most of the time we record different individuals at the site and the only way to unravel the movements of these giants is satellite tagging,” Mr Hilbourne told the Sunday Times. He said the possibility of tagging these rays in Sri Lankan waters too was considered, but as it would be different to locate them, the idea was dropped.
In the Maldives, the reef mantas were tagged, so their regular visits are recorded. The photo ID using spot patterns, scars, and other special markings can be used to identify individuals, says Ms Joanna Harris who studies the mantas of Maldives.
Climate change could also pose a threat to the mantas as it would reduce and disrupt the drifting patterns of oceanic planktons and also destroy the coral reefs that reef mantas are using as cleaning stations, said Ms. Harris.
A large number of juveniles are landed in the fish markets and makes up the largest number of juveniles recorded anywhere in the world so far.
It is highly likely that there is a nursery ground around Sri Lanka. So it is of utmost importance to protect them. In Sri Lanka, none of these mobulid rays is protected, but international treaties such as the Convention on Migratory Species and the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), apply.
The giant manta ray is in the CITES list of Appendix II, so special permission is needed for export.
The Giant Manta Ray is in the CITES list of Appendix II, according to which the country needs to give special permission to export them.
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director General Susantha Kahawatta said the department issues permits for gill raker exports after consultation with CITES.
In Sri Lanka, among the five species of sharks that are illegal to be caught are thresher sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, and whale sharks. Mr. Kahawatte said the law is being enforced by the Navy, the Coast guard, and the department’s fisheries inspectors. “They take action, whenever our scientific arm makes recommendations on severely depleting populations of mobula rays,” the DG told the Sunday Times.
The government’s marine research agency, the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) conducted small-scale research in 2018 on Manta Rays. Of the 46 specimens observed, 95% are juveniles or sub-adults, indicating the nursery grounds might be located close to Sri Lanka’s fishing grounds, said Dr. Chintha Perera, the leading scientist of the research. The research also recommends releasing into the sea live manta rays entangled in fishing gear.
NARA research also found few reef mantas too in fish markets. As there are no records of reef mantas in Sri Lankan waters, it is likely the Sri Lankan fishers caught them illegally in areas such as Chagos, a British Indian Ocean Territory near the Maldives, he said.
On September 27, the World Tourism Day was celebrated under the theme ‘Rethinking Tourism’. Perhaps it is time for Sri Lanka to think more about marine tourism and not empty the oceans of the charismatic species in our waters like the mobulid rays that have more potential to earn dollars, Mr Fernando told the Sunday Times.
This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network
Fishing gear in Sri Lankan waters continues to pose dangers to marine turtles, and there is little help on shore for creatures that are seriously injured. The bycatch remains problematic. But, in the nearby Maldives, a group is helping to rescue and rehabilitate injured marine turtles and experts point out the importance of establishing a similar program in Sri Lanka.
Three types of fishing gear have been identified as risks to sea turtles — gill nets, prawn/shrimp trawls, and longlines. Gill nets account for the highest number of entanglements. There are instances where fishermen themselves cut the flippers to protect their nets.
A sailor untangles the fishing net from one of the 13 turtles found off Batticaloa c oast. Pix by Navy media
During a patrol on September 26, sailors of SLNS Samudura — once engaged in fighting terrorists — hauled in 13 turtles entangled in fishing nets about 10 nautical miles off Batticaloa. The creatures were later released.
Turtle expert Dr. Lalith Ekanayake of the Bio Conservation Society, who checked the images from that rescue, said they were Olive Ridley Turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea).
“These turtles were lucky. They were seen before any serious injury, but we sometimes find turtles that have suffered cuts to their flippers in their attempts to escape,” he said.
Fitting a satellite tracker to ‘Peggy’, a turtle rehabilitation success story. Photo: MarineSavers
A study by Prof. Rupika Rajakaruna of the University of Peradeniya about perceptions of fisherfolk and practices of turtle catches in 2020, found that most have experienced sea turtles being entangled in their fishing gear (78.5%), and that these were usually accidental (89.4%).
The study also found that fisherfolk involved in eating and/or selling turtle meat is significantly lower compared with the past. They are also not selling turtles for fear of the law but bycatch remains a problem.
Sugath Emmanuel, who heads a regional fisheries organisation in Kudawa, Kandakuliya in Kalpitiya said he recalled his father hunting sea turtles to sell the meat.
“But now, fisherfolks in our community are not bringing in any turtles as there are fines and the equipment can be confiscated,’’ he told the Sunday Times. “However, some do eat the meat of turtles caught in their nets. There are others who hand over injured turtles to wildlife officers.”
Regional veterinary surgeons of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) treat injured turtles.
Prof. Rajakaruna’s study found a large percentage of fisherfolk (61.4%) were unaware that sea turtles were air breathers. “This is important information as fisherfolk assume that the turtles caught in their nets are able to breathe underwater, and presumably leave entangled turtles in their fishing nets instead of removing them or reducing soak times,’’ Prof. Rajakaruna said.
Turtles can stay underwater for about two to five hours, but need to surface to breathe and they can die by suffocation when entangled in nets.
Dr. Suhada Jayawardane of The Wild Animal Rescue Centre in Aththidiya in Western Sri Lanka said the centre has received about 30 injured turtles this year.
A turtle trapped and killed in a ‘ghost net’. Photo: Umeed Mistry, Ocean Image Bank
“Most were entangled in fishing nets and got their flippers cut,’’ Dr. Jayawardane said. “If the cut is deep and infected, we sometimes must amputate the limbs. Turtles without one flipper can survive in the wild, but if many flippers are damaged, survival is difficult. Some turtles also have ‘buoyancy syndrome’, which makes diving impossible. Such turtles, too, must be taken care of.’’
Most regional wildlife offices don’t have facilities to care for injured turtles. So they give the animals to hatcheries. But, these facilities are also not adequate.
During a recent media workshop tour to the Maldives with the support of the Earth Journalism Network, the SundayTimes got a chance to observe turtle rehab.
MarineSavers, a conservation group active in the Maldives, rehabilitated over 450 turtles since 2010. Out of these, 75 of the animals had been Olive Ridley turtles and the rest consist of Green Turtles and Hawk’s Bill turtles, said Dr. Katrina Himpson, the veterinary surgeon of the turtle rescue and rehabilitation centre at the Four Seasons resort at the Landaa Giraavaru.
The vets also experiment with ‘environment enrichment devices’, such as floating pipes filled with food to stimulate foraging behaviour in the wild. According to MarineSavers, logs and other physical structures designed to provoke exploratory behaviours and provide tactile stimulation are also added to the turtle tanks.
Also being used is a structure made of pipes in the shape of a square with a rope around it. The turtles can manipulate it with their flippers, climb through it and rub their shells against it. MarineSavers has sent a few turtles to large aquariums in other countries.
‘Frisbee’; a turtle that lost both its front flippers interacting with a floating frame – a turtle toy or Habitat environment devices (c) ReefSavers
A turtle they rescued in 2014 and named ‘Peggy’ had lost a flipper and it had ‘buoyancy syndrome’. It could not dive. In 2016, it was sent to an aquarium in Belgium. After about two years, the turtle recovered its ability to dive. It was then airlifted to the Maldives and released in 2019.
Satellite-tagged data showed that ‘Peggy’ went all the way near India’s Odisha coast where thousands of Olive Ridley Turtles nest. Data also reveal that it swam in parallel to Sri Lanka’s south coast and then swam toward the deep seas somewhere near Batticaloa.
Dr. Ekanayake said in Kalpitiya the team will test a green LED light that had been experimented with elsewhere, to reduce bycatch. The LED is tied across gill nets. It is believed that turtles can see certain light wavelengths.
It was developed by John Wang, an ecologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the USA (NOAA). Test results show up to 60% reduction in turtle bycatch. An Indonesian pilot project has reported a 20% boost in the target catch according to a World Wildlife Fund report.
This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network
The exhibition will have more than 200 creations by young members of the association. The wildlife arts section is named ‘Kin Wild’ and the wildlife photography section is named ‘Young Eye on Nature’.
Kin Wild–a selection of wildlife paintings and sketches is probably the longest running wildlife arts exhibition in the country.
The YZA established the ‘wildlife arts’ group in 1989 to assist talented wildlife artists. The first exhibition in 1990 and since then it was held as an annual event.
With the advent of digital photography, many have become wildlife photographers, but the association grooms its members to be ‘responsible wildlife photographers’ who try not to disturb the environment while taking their photos.
The YZA also have their photography group at the Dehiwala Zoological Garden and ‘Young Eye on Nature’ showcases the talents of the young photographers.
Since 1972, the Young Zoologists’ Association (YZA) has been Sri Lanka’s pioneer youth organisation on environmental education.
It was set up by former Zoo Director and renowned conservationist Lyn de Alwis, who saw a need to promote an interest in the study and conservation of nature and wildlife among young people.
The society meets every Sunday afternoon and members study wildlife and nature according to five study groups namely, birds, mammals, reptiles, aquatic life and flora. The YZA also has a junior arm which meets on Saturday mornings at the Dehiwala Zoo. Children between the age of 6 and 12 can become members.
Wildlife art for a cause
The organisation has been the first school for many who excel in the field of environmental science and conservation, said current YZA President Hasantha Wijethunga.
“Anyone with an interest in wildlife and nature between the age of 13 and 35 can become a member of the YZA” said Mr.Wijethunga.
In line with its 50th anniversary, YZA also opened two new branches; one at Pinnawala and the other at Ridiyagama Safari Park.
