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A number of foreign and local experts on inland fisheries will participate in a first-of-its kind international symposium in Sri Lanka on reservoir fisheries management, from October 3-7 in Dambulla.

"The Symposium on Participatory Approaches to Reservoir Fisheries Management: Issues, challenges and policies" will be a platform to highlight the experiences gained thus far in this sector, with the objective of formulating policy guidelines for reservoir fisheries management in Sri Lanka, organizers said.

The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA), the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Sri Lanka Association of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources and the Aquatic Resource Development & Quality Improvement Project will jointly organize the symposium.

The Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act No. 2 of 1996 was a major step forward for adapting a participatory approach for the inland fishery sector of Sri Lanka. It mooted the idea that government should divest from this sector by testing the management of inland water bodies in the hands of the community, the organisers said.

"We experimented with this concept and the results we came up with are very encouraging. The purpose of the symposium is to share this experience with a wider network of professionals from the sector and to seek their inputs to formulate policy guidelines for reservoir fisheries management in Sri Lanka," said Peter Jarchau, senior advisor for the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) - supported Fisheries Community Development & Resources Management Project.

Based in Tangalle in the deep south, the Fisheries Community Development & Resources Management Project (FCDRMP) was established in 1988 as a pilot project of the Ministry of Fisheries & Aquatic Resource Development to promote community-based fisheries management.

FCDRMP is implemented with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development with technical assistance of the GTZ. The National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA) is the project’s main partner.

As per the agreement, FCDRMP will be phased out by end of 2004, leaving the knowledge it has gathered in the hands of the local partners.

The Minister of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources Chandresena Wijesinghe will be the chief guest at the symposium’s inauguration, which will take place in Colombo at the Sri Lanka Institute of International Relations this Sunday. Internationally renowned Sri Lankan Professor Sena de Silva of Australia’s Deakin University will deliver the keynote address.

Subsequently, the symposium will move to Dambulla, where for the next three days sector specialists from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Sri Lanka will present papers on various successes and failures of inland fisheries management practices.

Among the topics that will be discussed at the symposium are: Issues of existing framework for management of fisheries and fish farming in perennial and seasonal reservoirs; role of relevant government institutions and local level officers; existing community participation mechanisms in fisheries management; socio economic constraints in fish farming and fisheries management and post-harvest and marketing concerns.