By Ayesh Indranath Ranawaka –

Ayesh Indranath Ranawaka

It is often said that there can be many fathers to victory, but no one takes responsibility for defeat. That saying perfectly applies to the story of how commercial whale watching began in Sri Lanka. The emergence of this industry was not a planned initiative but rather a result of a series of coincidental events.

To clarify the facts, before 2008 there was no whale watching activity in Sri Lanka. At that time, a plot of land within the Mirissa Fisheries Harbour had been leased by an individual to conduct a workshop. However, this lessee had illegally subleased the property to another organization that had been formed in Mirissa. As this action was in violation of the lease agreement, the authorities intervened and ordered that the property be returned.

Subsequently, in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, a travel lift was brought to the Mirissa Harbour under foreign aid to facilitate the lifting of boats. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first travel lift installed in a fishery harbour . Nevertheless, even at that point, there was no commercial whale watching activity taking place in Sri Lanka.

It was I who introduced whale watching, initially starting from Galle and later extending it to Mirissa, based on the outcomes of research that I personally conducted and carefully analyzed. The project evolved substantially from the early observations, leading to successful sightings of whales at sea. The photographs captured during that period were displayed at the Bandaranaike International Airport for an extended time, marking a significant milestone for the nation.

Prior to this initiative, there had been no such whale watching operations or related tourism activities in the country. The entire process originated from a Board paper that I personally initiated and presented to Ceylon Fisheries harbour Board of Directors, which subsequently paved the way for the formal establishment and development of commercial whale watching in Sri Lanka.