Abstract:
Small scale fisheries play a major role in global fish production, especially in
developing countries like Sri Lanka. The bivalve fishery, which consists of both
capture-based aquaculture and capture fishery from natural oyster beds, is one of
the promising small scale fisheries among poor coastal communities in Sri
Lanka. However, this industry has not been developed into mass scale
production, despite the availability of a large number of water bodies and
natural bivalve beds, due to poor knowledge on the potential for expansion of
the market chain. Therefore, this study tried to identify the strengths;
weaknesses; opportunities; and threats in each phase of the market chain.
Primary data were collected through field visits at oyster landing sites in
Gangewadiya (mainly Crassostrea madrasensis) and Kandakuliya (mainly
Crassostrea belcheri) in Puttalam lagoon, on production locations; processing
units; and markets by interviewing, all most all the market chain actors engaged
in the industry, from February to November in 2012.The main stakeholders in
the oyster market chain were identified as oyster harvesters and farmers;
processors; agents; exporters and consumers. However, a well-organized market
structure was not evident. Almost 90% of the local market depends on the
tourist industry while one export company has entered the market chain
recently. The local market has given low emphasis on quality while the export
market is characterized by demand for good quality and high prices. The main
obstacles for expansion of the industry are the lack of knowledge and
unstructured flow of information among farmers, harvesters, processors and
exporters, and lack of trust between actors. A significant number of processors,
agents and exporters believed that there is a high potential for developing the
bivalve industry, but majority of farmers doubt on such development due to high
mortalities prevalent during the monsoonal period. However, inadequate
legislation on uncontrolled harvesting of wild oyster population during the
monsoon period was the major concern of environmentalists. If an alternative
could be found through future research to maintain a continuous supply of
oyster during the monsoon periods, there exists a high potential for developing
the bivalve culture as a continuous foreign income generating industry.
