Explosives smuggled from India used in blast fishing in Sri Lanka

Explosives smuggled from India used in blast fishing in Sri Lanka

Source: mongabay

7/22/2022

Credit: Dharshana Jayawardena

Blast fishing is widely practiced in the seas around Sri Lanka, with even marine parks and historical shipwrecks not immune to this illegal practice.
Authorities say blast fishers work as part of a network to evade capture and obtain explosives, including by smuggling them in by sea from India.
The easy availability of explosives transcends conservation issues and raises serious national security concerns, experts say, pointing to the use of explosives in a coordinated terrorist attack on churches during Easter of 2019.
Blast fishing also poses a threat to recreational divers, with a serious injury or even death spelling the end for Sri Lanka’s dive tourism industry that’s already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic crisis.

On what seemed to be a pleasant morning on the seaside, a group of tourists boating in Pigeon Island National Park in eastern Sri Lanka were in for an unpleasant shock. As they were taking in the rich marine life in the water around them, there was a loud blast close by. They saw that the fish they’d been watching were now either floating dead on the surface or struggling to swim. More dead fish could be seen on the seabed through the clear water.

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