Impact of COVID-19 on the production of marine fishery sector - A case study at Beruwala fisheries Harbor, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Marine fishery contributes significantly to fish production in Sri Lanka. Though the demand for marine fish increases, the supply chain gets disturbances due to many reasons including the COVID- 19 pandemic. With the first patient reported from Sri Lanka, the government-imposed mitigation measures to tackle the problems related to COVID-19. The present study identified the status of marine fisheries in the Beruwala harbor at Kalutara district from May to June 2022. Primary data were collected through individual/group discussions and questionnaires. Different stakeholders in the fish production chain including fishermen, retailers, and consumers were interviewed using questionnaires. The veracity of the collected data was confirmed by discussions with the harbor manager, fishery officer, and security officer at the harbor. Secondary data on total marine fish production, species-wise monthly total production, and the number of multi-day boats operated from 2019 to 2020 were gathered from the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development. The collected data were analyzed using MS Excel and IMB SPSS Statistical software packages. Among the respondents, 90% were male. Most stakeholders (47%) have 16-20 years of experience in the fisheries sector. Generally, as a practice, 5-7 fishermen take part in one multi-day fishery voyage at sea which was not changed during COVID-19. Harvesting days of fishermen in one voyage vary from 10 to 60 and the selling time at the retail market varied from 3 to 6 hours in 2019. Monthly fish production of the Beruwala fishery harbor showed a significant decline (p<0.05) in April 2020 (97,8150kg) when compared with that in April 2019 (3,535,240kg) and 2021 (3,499,825kg). Apart from that, there was no significant difference in the monthly fish production in other months of 2019, 2020, and 2021. The main problem was the landing of more than 300,000 kg of fish in 90 multi-day boats during the closure of the harbor, and Ceylon Fisheries Cooperation didn't have proper storage facilities due to insufficient ice supply during frequent electricity breakdowns. As a result, the quality of fish was decreased which ultimately affected the profit level since the fishermen had to sell those fish at lower prices. According to the results, it can be concluded that various stakeholders of the fisheries value chain have faced social, economic, and physical challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic. Though total fish production of the Beruwala fishery harbor has not been affected due to COVID-19 pandemic, the monthly fish production of the harbor has declined with the first wave of the pandemic.