{"id":156587,"date":"2026-06-05T15:35:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156587"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:35:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:35:03","slug":"the-missing-link-a-national-blue-economy-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/06\/05\/the-missing-link-a-national-blue-economy-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Missing Link: A National Blue Economy Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><strong>An equally important issue that requires urgent attention is the absence of a comprehensive national Blue Economy Strategy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an island nation located at the centre of one of the world&#8217;s busiest maritime routes, Sri Lanka possesses enormous untapped ocean-based economic potential. Yet, much of our policy focus remains limited to traditional fisheries and port operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A modern Blue Economy Strategy should encompass fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing, shipbuilding and ship repair, marine engineering, offshore renewable energy, marine biotechnology, maritime logistics, coastal tourism, ocean research, and maritime education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such a strategy would create thousands of high-quality jobs for fisheries graduates, marine engineers, naval architects, technicians, scientists, and skilled workers who currently seek opportunities overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than negotiating pathways for our graduates to leave Sri Lanka, we should simultaneously develop industries capable of employing them productively within the country. The objective should be to transform Sri Lanka into a regional maritime and ocean economy hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The success of nations such as Singapore, South Korea, and Norway demonstrates how ocean resources can be converted into sustainable economic growth, technological advancement, and high-value employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka&#8217;s Exclusive Economic Zone is many times larger than its land area. Properly managed, this maritime resource base can become a major source of national wealth and employment. A well-structured Blue Economy Strategy would help retain skilled professionals, attract investment, strengthen food security, increase exports, and reduce dependence on labour migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Sri Lanka is serious about addressing the shortage of skilled workers and reversing the brain drain, the formulation of a long-term Blue Economy Strategy should become a national priority. Such a strategy would allow us not merely to export labour, but to build industries that create prosperity and opportunities at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regards<br><br>Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr Sarath Obeysekera An equally important issue that requires urgent attention is the absence of a comprehensive national Blue Economy Strategy. As an island nation located at the centre of one of the world&#8217;s busiest maritime routes, Sri Lanka possesses enormous untapped ocean-based economic potential. Yet, much of our policy focus remains limited to traditional [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156588,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156587\/revisions\/156588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}