The Hindu : Business : Fishermen hooked on to tuna

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Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008
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Fishermen hooked on to tuna

K. Venkiteswaran

KOCHI: Goan fishermen need not be threatened by the decline in their fish catch. Yellow-fin tuna abounds in their waters and Indian fishermen recorded an astounding export worth $ 29.54 million of this variety in 2006-07. This was an eighty eight per cent increase from the previous year as per Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) sources here.

Buoyed by the all-India sales, the Goa State Fisheries Department and the Fisheries Survey of India are persuading trawler-owners to switch to harvesting yellow-fin tuna.

The government is offering various schemes to the local fishermen to ease the transition to tuna fishing. “We provide assistance of up to fifty per cent of the cost for vessel modification, subject to a maximum of Rs.15 lakh for deep-sea fishing vessels and Rs.7.50 lakh for mechanised fishing vessels,” says an MPEDA official.

Till now, no market has promoted tuna fishing. But now, with the entry of Indian exporters and with help from the government, the time is ripe for this adventure, feels many Goan fishermen.

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