Largest fish processing plant now home for bats

Oluvil’s fish trade story reaches saddest chapter 

All Island Fisheries Association Chairman Keerthi Weerasinghe says that if this fisheries harbour and the processing plant are operated fish could be provided to the whole country without a shortage.

With the emergence of the second cluster of the second wave of COVID-19 from Peliyagoda, the pandemic spread across the island causing the economy to go backwards. Curfew was imposed in several police areas including the Western Province to control the spread of the virus. People began to avoid eating fish as the number of patients reported from the Peliyagoda cluster increased. Fishermen faced extreme difficulties being unable to sell their fish caught during the initial stage of the  Peliyagoda cluster.

There was an unexpected price reduction of fish. Fishermen couldn’t sell their fish even at a lower price due to the opinion people held that the COVID-19 virus existed on fish. Even though the Government and health authorities stated that consuming fish wouldn’t pass on the virus to humans, people were still reluctant to consume fish. Therefore, fishermen had to sell their stocks at a much lower price. Some decided to make dried fish. Some threw the catch back into the sea.  

Ceylon Fisheries Corporation has agreed to buy a portion of the fish stocks. Thus, Ceylon Fisheries Corporation has brought more than 80,000 kilos of fish. Ceylon Fisheries Corporation Chairman Major General Lalith Daulagala said that the fish bought under that arrangement was stored in freezers with the help of the private sector. He also said that those fish stocks would be given to Samurdhi beneficiary families in the future. Seven ships, which recently entered the Beruwala Harbour, carried 63640 kilos of fish. 60000 kilos of that stock were sold to fisherfolk in Negombo to make dried fish. 

The lack of storage facilities in the Fisheries Corporation to store fish during an emergency, like during the pandemic, is unfortunate. If there had been any facilities all the stocks could have been well preserved. However due to the lack of such facilities a huge loss had to be borne.
It is shocking that officers have forgotten the fact that the Government has a fish processing plant at which as much as 500 tons of fish could be stored at a given time. This was built in 2013 near Oluvil Fisheries Harbour simultaneously with the construction of Oluvil Port. The fish processing plant hasn’t been in operation ever since. At present the plant has become home to bats. Even if the Oluvil Fish Processing Plant, which was built at the cost of 120 million Rupees, has been closed without being used, the premium for a loan obtained for its construction is still being repaid.

This fish processing plant, which includes modern facilities, is so far the biggest such facility in Sri Lanka. It is shocking to hear that this hasn’t been in operation until at present. Since this plant is under the supervision of the Ports Authority it is safe from thieves. Since these machines are no longer used they will soon become ineffective. This plant was built with the purpose of storing fish stocks from Oluvil coast and exporting them.
Since Oluvil Port has been constructed without conducting a proper feasibility study it is faced with the issue of sand filling. Therefore both the port and the processing plant, on which billions of rupees have been spent, have turned out to be white elephants. This fish processing plant is operated in two stages; the primary stage and the secondary stage. During the first stage freezers are kept in a temperature of 5 Centigrade. That temperature allows for preparation. In its second stage the fish is stored in a temperature of -60 Centigrade. Fish frozen in that manner can be stored for one year. 

It has a storage facility with a capacity of storing 500 tons of fish at any given time. The other facility allows for storage of 500 tons of fish per year. A separate transformer, oil tanks and power generators are installed for its operation. Computer network systems are in place to aid all the functions. All the freezers at the plant are operated using the computer network. They operate at a temperature between -20 and -10. There are a few freezers with an area of 20 square metres. One freezer can hold up to 35 tons of fish.

It is shocking that officers have forgotten the fact that the Government has a fish processing plant at which as much as 500 tons of fish could be stored at a given time

The attention of the authorities should be drawn towards the plight of the largest and the only fish processing plant with the latest technology in Sri Lanka. When processing fish varieties such as tuna, storage facilities can be arranged at a temperature as low as -5 centigrade. There is an accommodation facility within the plant including all the facilities to house 500 workers at a given time. Clothes, shoes and gloves which were purchased for those workers are still piled inside storage rooms. Fish trays are made of stainless steel. If this plant is operated it can provide 2500 employment opportunities.

The authorities should consider transferring this processing plant, which is currently in the hands of the Ports Authority, to the Fisheries Corporation and make use of it. If not this will not be used until it decays. All Island Fisheries Association Chairman Keerthi Weerasinghe said that if the port is not operated due to the issue of sand filling its operations can be initiated after placing a barricade 100 metres away from the entrance point to the port. If this fisheries harbour and the processing plant are operated fish could be provided to the whole country without a shortage, he declared.

Commenting on the Oluvil Fish Processing Plant not being used for storage, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Gen. Daya Ratnayake said that 500 metric tons of fish could be stored in the plant. Additionally, the Ports Authority has facilities to store 30 metric tons of fish under the ‘blast freezer’ method, he said. Storing fish in the plant had not been possible due to work in the Oluvil Harbour being hampered by sand filling. But fish could be transported to the plant by land, Gen. Ratnayake noted.

At the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak the Fisheries Corporation had requested from the Ports Authority to renovate the Oluvil Fish Processing Plant at a cost of Rs 2 million, he said. But despite this, the Fisheries Ministry hasn’t stored any fish there. Even now the Ports Authority, as requested by the Fisheries Ministry, has prepared to hand the plant over to the Fisheries Corporation for use. But the Fisheries Corporation has not yet used it as a storage facility, the Chairman said. He added that he hoped the Fisheries Corporation would go ahead and use the storage facility as planned. 

Sand blocking the site

An abandoned deep freezing facility