Visakhapatnam: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said a three-pronged strategy has to be adopted to tackle the various issues concerning the fisheries sector in India as it could aspire to become the number-one fish exporter in the world, rising from the current fourth place.
Sustainable management of resources, mitigation of the damage caused by climate change, improvement in value addition and post-production facilities for better price realisation and leveraging technology to innovate in aquaculture and improve production capacities were the key to this, he said.
Beginning his weeklong visit to the port city, the Vice- President interacted with scientists and staff of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology.
Naidu said the upcoming National Fisheries Policy would help in building an ecologically healthy, economically viable and socially inclusive fisheries sector.
Noting that India ranked second in the world in total fish production, he said there was still a lot of potential to be harnessed in both inland and marine fisheries.
Fisheries sector provides employment to nearly 15 million people on the Indian coast. India is the fourth largest exporter of fish in the world and the sector has been one of the major contributors of foreign exchange earnings. It should now aspire to become number one in export of fish, Naidu added.
He stressed the need to improve value-addition by maintaining highest quality, consistency and reliability through better grading, quality assurance and packaging of the product.
Stating that over 8,000 km of coastline offered immense potential for the development of mariculture, the Vice- President said cage farming has been widely recognised as the most important technology for increasing fish production. He lauded CMFRI and CIFT for the good work in this regard and said a lot more remained to be done.
The Vice-President wanted Indian mariculture to be diversified by investing in innovative products like nutraceuticals and ornamental fish.
We need to focus on reducing post-harvest losses by creating the required infrastructure like cold storages.
There is need for enhancing access to credit, developing cold chains and good upcountry market linkages and also providing better infrastructure for post-harvest storage, handling and value addition, he said.
Ultimately, government efforts should be complemented by greater research and development support from research institutes, increased private investment in fish and shrimp hatcheries and establishment of aquaculture estates, feed mills and ancillary industries, he added.
Expressing concern over the pollution of marine and freshwater, the Vice-President said discarded plastics, other residual waste and industrial chemicals were finding their way into the water bodies with devastating consequences for aquatic life and also the inhabitants depending on them.
Naidu remarked that COVID-19 might prove to be a game- changer for Indias fisheries sector as the pandemic made people conscious of adopting healthy dietary habits.
Fish is a great source of protein and holds the key for reducing malnutrition, especially in children. Health experts and nutritionists should bring awareness among the common people about the many benefits of having fish in the diet, he said.
CMFRI Director A Gopalakrishnan, CIFT in-charge R Raghu Prakash and other scientists were present.
