Sunday, September 6 2026
Sunday, September 6 2026
MONETABRIEF – Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Ministers has decided to provide transponders to 1,500 ocean going fishing vessels at state expense to track them through a vessel monitoring system, spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said.
Sri Lanka has already fixed VMS transponders in 4,200 out of 5,200 registered ocean-going multi-day boats using a grant from the Government of Australia to comply with rules of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.
After 2021-01-01 all newly registered fishing vessels have to purchase and fix VMS transponders.
However, there were around 1,500 fishing vessels which operated in Sri Lankan and international waters which were registered earlier which do not have transponders and cannot be tracked.
These included 400 multi-day boats with length exceeding 34 feet, can remain at sea for extended periods and could potentially be used for drug trafficking and human smuggling, Minister Jayatissa said.
The Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources had proposed that these 1,500 vessels also be provided transponders at state expense so that all vessels can be tracked. (Colombo/July07/2026)
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