The Hindu : Business : Tuna to trigger change in islands’ economy

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Friday, Jan 11, 2008
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Tuna to trigger change in islands’ economy

R. Ramabhadran Pillai

UT to take up scheme for exports

Export target within five years is $500 million
100 fishing vessels to be converted into tuna liners

PORT BLAIR: Tuna, a fish variety yet to be marketed on a large commercial scale in India, will soon become the mainstay of income for hundreds of fishermen in the Andaman & Nicobar islands.

The Union Territory will take up a scheme for fishing and export of tuna on large scale.

A perspective plan for tuna-based commercial enterprise was released recently. The plan has been prepared with the help of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

About one-third of the tuna found in the Indian zone is in Andaman & Nicobar islands. The country had lagged behind in exploiting the resource. Other countries derived advantage out of this situation as tuna was migratory in nature.

As part of the plan, 100 fishing vessels would be converted into tuna liners during the current year.

Infrastructure costing Rs. 14 crore would be created within 18 months. These include training centres for fishermen, packing and export facility. The plan envisaged conversion of Port Blair as the hub of tuna export.

Releasing the plan, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh told a group of visiting journalists that the Civil Aviation ministry’s help had been sought to introduce air transport facilities to Bangkok, Singapore and Tokyo from Port Blair so that processed fish could be sent to potential markets at the earliest.

Tuna will be caught, chilled, processed and packaged on the islands. This would result in employment generation for the people. The plan is to raise the export turnover in value to $500 million within the next 5 years.

Later, a meeting of the stakeholders of the fishing industry was convened where the plan was discussed. Suggestions received before the end of the month would be considered for final approval.

MPEDA chairman G. Mohan Kumar said the satellite office of MPEDA in Port Blair would be converted into a full fledged one. The island has a unique facility to breed pathogen-free tiger prawns.

The programme is the only R&D effort of its kind in India. Experts from the U.S. are involved in monitoring the quality of the produce.

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