With the seafood industry finding itself in troubled waters due to a variety of reasons, the exporters and trawler operators are baying for a bailout package from the new government at the Centre.
Achieving the export target of $15 billion by 2015 turning into a Herculean task, the industry is looking at a booster dose with a slew of incentives. The most important among them is to dispense with Letters of Permission (LoP) being given to some foreign vessels registered in the name of Indian firms.
“To put an end to overexploitation of fish resources, we are sensitising the industry on sustainable technologies. Even the LoP system may soon become a closed chapter,” Y.S. Yadava, Director of Bay of Bengal Programme (an inter-governmental organisation) and former Central Fisheries Commissioner, has told The Hindu.
Sources say the export market is under-explored even though there is a heavy demand for sushi grade tuna, shrimp, lobsters and other varieties to the United States, Japan and the European Union countries, known for their penchant for seafood. India contributes less than 1 per cent of ornamental fish exports – an area which is yet to be tapped fully.
“We have 8,129-long coastline with two million square km of Exclusive Economic Zone and 1.2 million hectares of brackish water body. A series of incentives with thrust on augmenting infrastructure will boost our turnover from inland and marine fisheries,” says Y.G.K. Murti, president of Federation of Indian Fishery Industries (FIFI).
Oozing out confidence that with local MP K. Haribabu familiar with the problems of the industry and change of guard at the Centre and in the State, he says they will get their voice heard at the State and the Centre for formulating a policy to encourage the fisheries sector in a big way.
