Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Tuna fishing gains momentum, says MPEDA chief

— Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

FOR BETTER CATCH: MPEDA Chairman G. Mohan Kumar (right) and Director (marketing) Thomas Kuruvilla at the flagging off of the converted tuna long liners at the fishing harbour in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Tuna fishing has a great future in India and it gathered momentum after years of sustained efforts, said the Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) G. Mohan Kumar here on Friday.

Mr. Mohan Kumar flagged off 21 converted tuna long line fishing vessels at the Fishing Harbour here. It was for the first time that such a large number of this type of vessels had been launched in India.

“Tuna fishing will not look back. It is being popularised all over the country, including Andaman and Nicobar islands. An integrated approach is required to boost tuna exports and it is not impossible to reach the half-a-billion dollars export mark in the next few years”, said the MPEDA Chairman.

Conversion of vessels, imparting training to the crew, on-board handling and on-shore facilities were required to make tuna fishing and export a success story, he felt and also cautioned the technocrats that unit value realisation was also important. Some were happy with getting a price of one dollar for a kg of tuna fish but they must exploit the condition of quality product getting 20 dollars, which was the price a quality fish would attract. To realise this price, one must concentrate on efficient fishing and post-harvest operations.

The MPEDA Chairman also revealed that a scheme to provide subsidy for buying or constructing new tuna long line vessels was waiting for the nod of Ministry of Agriculture. This was in addition to the existing scheme of providing subsidy component of a maximum of Rs.15 lakhs to the conversion of a vessel.

Reacting to the needs and demands of tuna fishing technocrats listed by president of Association of Indian Fishing Industry Y.G.K. Murthy, he promised to address the problems and felt that milkfish, one of the bites for tuna fish, could be farmed in India.

Director (marketing) of MPEDA Kuruvilla Thomas said it was a historic day that 21 vessels were being put to use. MPEDA started tuna fishing exercise with two converted vessels in 2002 and the figure raised to six after four years and a major development took place after this stage due to concerted efforts made by MPEDA. “Now Indian tuna is being discussed in foreign markets”, he said. About 100 vessels would be commissioned by year-end, said Mr. Kuruvilla and felt that Chennai, Mumbai and Gujarat should follow the Vizag example. He also appreciated secretary of AIFI D. Babu Rao who voluntarily donated his vessel to be concerted into a tuna long line fishing vessel for experimental purpose.

The vessel would be fitted with imported equipment.

Joint Director of Fisheries V. Suresh, editor of Fishing Chimes and an expert in fishing Deekshitutlu, a senior fishing technocrat Agarwal and others participated in the programme.

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