The Hon. Ajith Gihan
Hon. Ajith Gihan asked whether there is a concrete plan to expand aquaculture production by increasing hatchery output, upgrading suitable tanks and reservoirs, and addressing staffing shortages. He noted that although Sri Lanka has around 33,000 tanks, only about 1,300 are suitable for fisheries and only about 120 have active business plans and fingerling stocking, while around 5,000 seasonal tanks lack a proper programme. He also stated that NAQDA hatcheries are insufficient to meet fry demand and that production was further affected by Cyclone Michaung.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 My second supplementary: There are about 33,000 tanks; ~1,300 are suitable for fisheries, yet only about 120 have business plans and active fingerling stocking. Although there are about 5,000 seasonal tanks, there is no proper programme. While NAQDA has hatcheries at Dambulla, Udawalawa, Inginiyagala, Kala Wewa, Iranamadu, etc., fry output is insufficient and was further damaged by “Michaung.” To increase production tenfold, we must expand hatchery output and improve tank systems, and address staffing gaps. Do you have a concrete plan to expand hatcheries, upgrade reservoirs, and resolve manpower issues?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 5 May 2026 ·No. 23546 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/19756
Cite as: The Hon. Ajith Gihan. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 May 2026. No. 23546. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/19756