It has also established the Tsunami Maritime Relief Fund through which the shipping industry's direct financial and in-kind aid for the victims of the disaster might be coordinated and has written to all non-governmental organisations in consultative status with the IMO drawing it to their attention and encouraging their generous contribution. IMO staff have already begun contributing to the fund.

The late December disaster inflicted a loss of more than half a billion dollars on the fishing sector of the seven worst effected countries. Over 111,000 vessels were destroyed or damaged, 36,000 engines lost and 1.7 million units of fishing gear were ruined, according to United Nations figures released late last month.

As it mobilises to help the recovery, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has produced a framework strategy for the rehabilitation of fisheries and aquaculture which it hopes will help contribute to sustainable and responsible fishing in the region as the sector gets back onto its feet. Overcapacity in the coastal fisheries was a major problem before the tsunami.

In the first small step in its large scale initiative, the FAO handed over an initial $380,000 consignment of boat repair kits last month to Sri Lankan fishermen. The donation, funded jointly by the FAO and the German technical cooperation agency GTZ, represents the start of the FAO's $20 million initial response to the tsunami that ravaged more than three quarters of the country's fisheries industry. The programme will also provide necessary technical assistance for the re-establishment of ice plants, cold rooms, fish collecting and marketing centres, and the rehabilitation of fishery harbours and anchorages.

MJInformation No: 20402