The Cabinet of Ministers has greenlighted the drafting of new bill to strengthen the legislations pertaining to illegal and unregulated poaching activities in the Sri Lankan waters, while repealing the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act No. 2 of 1996 which is currently in place.

The Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act No. 2 of 1996 has been amended on 8 occasions thus far, and steps have been taken on several occasions to repeal the said Act and introduce a new Act, but the related work has not been completed yet.

In order to strengthen the legislative framework on issues related to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing operations in the country’s territorial waters and on the high seas, a preliminary draft has been prepared by a committee consisting of officials of the Ministry of Fisheries, as well as officials of the Department of Legal Drafting, the Attorney General’s Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the technical assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal submitted by the Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Marine Resources to instruct the Legal Draftsman to prepare a new draft bill based on the said preliminary draft.