With the removal of EU ban, about 50,000 new employment opportunities stand open to Sri Lanka on fish exports and the lost opportunities for fish exports will be reopened, the State Minister said recently.

Many in the fisheries industry were deprived of their livelihoods and 35-40 fish export companies were closed due to the ban imposed in October 2014, recalled the Minister.

According to State Minister, the ban on fish exports posed many social and economic issues causing a large group to abandon the fisheries industry and depriving the country of a huge foreign income amounting to Rs. 4 billion a year.

The Minister noted that the government had to comply with 57 conditions, gradually satisfying one by one to get the ban removed.

He said it will be possible to earn a foreign income of about Rs. 4 billion from fish exports, and that foreign income could be utilized in strengthening the economy of the fisher community as well as the country.