Sri Lanka being an Island has access to sea right round through
a coastline of 1760 km. Sri Lanka established exclusive marine
fishery right over 516,000 sq km with the declaration of its
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 1976. Fishing has been one of
the most important economic activities in the coastal areas for
generations. At present the fisheries sector contributes 2.37%
to the Gross National Product (GNP) of the Island. Though this
is very modest, the sector is still important to the economy of
the country in terms of the contribution it makes to employment,
foreign exchange earnings and above all to the,protein supply.
Fisheries sector provides direct employment to around 100,000
persons. During the past decade the fisheries sector has also
developed into an important source of foreign exchange earnings
for the country.. In 1991, 1828 MT of high valued products such
as prawns, lobsters, crabs, cutt.lef.islT, _s.ea cucumber-and shark
fins are exported. The amount earned by this sector was Rs.
855.5 million-which is 1.61% of the total export earning of the
country. Fish contributes to the main animal protein of the
nation. According to the Food Balance Sheet in 1991 fish
contributed 54% of the animal based protein consumed by the
people of Sri Lanka.