The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development is the central government ministry of Sri Lanka responsible for fisheries. The ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing national policy on fisheries and aquatic resources development and other subjects which come under its purview.

Located in close proximity to coastal areas, lagoons contain highly sensitive ecological systems. In Sri Lanka, lands are not identified and allocated solely for aquaculture purposes. Alternatively, natural and man-made water areas in island wide are used for aquaculture. In this context, with sustainable management and maximum productivity, the water areas are being utilized which have aquaculture potentials and yet remain underutilized such as lagoon system, estuaries, flood lakes and especially small and medium scale perennial reservoir system in the wet zone that are unused and unutilized for agriculture but, carry supplement water amount throughout the year. Under this particular project, it has been planned that livelihood development programmes be introduced and implemented including the execution of projects for fish production increase, employment generation, tourism and tourism related industry promotion, fish post-harvest production and value addition. It is the main objective of this project that Sri Lanka’s lagoon system and inland reservoir system be transformed into areas with high economic value.