Abstract:
Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture (IFA) contribute about 25% to the world's production of
fish. Development of IFA in Sri Lanka has been given high priority by the Government. Sri Lanka
plans to double inland fisheries production by supporting aquaculture to make up for dwindling
ocean fish stocks.It will ensure production of fish as a cheap source of animal protein for the rural
communities and it has the potential to increase income and employment opportunities for the low income people. So, it provides livelihood to the rural communities in the interior districts. The main
aim of this study is to investigate the participation of the active fishers (engaged in IFA among
fishing households) in the production of IFA based on their province. The data was obtained from
the Performance Report 2015 of National Aquaculture Development Authority of Sri Lanka
(NAQDA) and Sri Lankan Labour Force Survey 2015 of Department of Census and Statistics. The
relationship between the variables was investigated by estimating odds ratios at corresponding 95%
confidence interval. The results revealed that the labour force on agricultural industry among the
economically active population was comparatively higher in Uva and North Central Provinces than
the other seven provinces. The participation of active female fishers and active male fishers in IFA
was comparatively higher in Northern Province and North Western Province than the other
provinces respectively. Based on the comparison of active fishers and the annual production of IFA,
North Western and North Central Provinces shown positive production gain and Central and
Western Provinces shown negative production gain in the year of 2015 respectively. From this
analysis, we concluded that the active fishers especially male fishers from the province of North
Western were highly contributed to the annual production of IFAin the year of 2015.
