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India
has an immense potential to produce high quality seafood products, but
a prerequisite for this is a focused National Fisheries Policy, says
Abraham Tharakan
India
is the world’s second largest producer of fish with 6.1 million
tonnes harvested from the wild and aquaculture sources. The export of
seafood is a large net foreign exchange earner for the country. The
global trade of raw and value-added marine products is approximately
$56 billion. The retail trade of marine products in developed countries
is estimated at $300 billion a year, and is growing steadily. The seafood
industry has the potential to play a pivotal role in positioning India
as a key player in the global processed food industry.
There is an urgency to take proactive measures to realise this potential
since countries like China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam have already
moved in this direction.
For seafood exports to grow, it is imperative that India has sustainable
resources to ensure a consistent flow of raw fish and sufficient processing
technologies.
To ensure this, the seafood exporting community requires a coordinated
and focused National Fisheries Policy, which is effectively implemented
across industry verticals. The Seafood Exporters Association of India
(SEAI) has projected certain policy initiatives, which, if strictly
implemented, will, in three years:
• Double the seafood exports from
the current $1.3 billion to over $3 billion a year by 2006
• Create 0.5 million direct and indirect
jobs in remote coastal areas and seafood processing facilities
• Generate brand equity for Indian
processed foods in the international market, and
• Position India as an international
seafoodprocessing centre.
Need for administrative control
The administrative control and direction of the fishery sector in India
is divided and dispersed between different ministries of the Central
government and the fisheries departments of the state governments. These
are:
• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry
(MoC), which controls and regulates all matters regarding seafood exports
• The Ministry of Food Processing
Industries (MoFPI), which provides assistance to preprocessing centres,
cold storage, seafood factories and development of the domestic seafood
market
• The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)
that regulates the seafood sector under departments such as:
a) Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy
b) Department of Agriculture Research and
Education The existence of numerous departments creates difficulty in
coordination and eventually time overruns in decision-making. It hinders
timely actions that need to be taken and the dynamic responses required
to position India as a global player. Lack of interministerial coordination
results in India being unable to leverage its international competitive
advantages of availability of raw material, world class seafood facilities
and competitively priced skilled labour, against its Asian...
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