Mirissa Water Sports (MWS)

Mirissa Water Sports is a social business that was created in 2005 at the initiative of the Building A Future Foundation.

During an incubation period of about 3 years, BAF Foundation provided its support and its skills to MWS team in terms of marketing, HR, accounting, material (boats)…

Since 2008, the sole shareholders of the company are a couple of youth, sons of fishermen from Mirissa. Mirissa Water Sports is totally independent from BAF Foundation, legally as well as financially. MWS is a profitable company that reinvests a large part of its profit into the company to expand and improve its services with new boats and with the opening of new bases.

MWS is pioneer in whale watching activities in Sri Lanka and received a certificate of excellence from TripAdvisor in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Seeing the success of MWS, about 45 fishing boats out of 300 in Mirissa Harbor were retrofitted or new boats were purchased for whale watching activities generating sustainable revenues. Many times, fathers still work as fishermen while their sons orient their business activities into more lucrative whale watching activities. The whale watching activity generates work for about 180 persons and the revenues from the activity benefit to about 1000 persons.

During the good season, hundreds of tourists are present at dawn in the colored and picturesque Mirissa harbor to embark for a few hours journey at sea to spot these huge cetaceans.

MWS is operational in Mirissa on the south-west coast from November to April and recently opened a new base on the east coast of Sri Lanka from May to October.

MWS works in collaboration with scientists for a better understanding and protection of whales and dolphins in order to propose an environmentally responsible activity to tourists.

Website: www.mirissawatersports.lk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mirissawatersports