The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Group of fishermen to leave for Vietnam

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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Group of fishermen to leave for Vietnam

Special Correspondent

They will study techniques and practices employed by their counterparts

Photo: V. Ganesan

R. Shaick Jalaluddin (third from left), team leader, briefing fishermen from Tamil Nadu on the eve of departure to Vietnam for training in fisheries technology organised by Rotary District 3230, in Chennai on Friday. —

CHENNAI: Fishermen wearing designer suits? Or planning a foreign trip? If you thought any of these were as unlikely as fish turning amphibians, think again!

A group of seven fishermen short-listed from the densely populated coastal community along Tamil Nadu prepares to leave for Vietnam to refine the tools of their trade.

The fishermen, led by a former official of the Fisheries Department, will be in Vietnam for a 20-day training programme to study the techniques and practices employed by their counterparts whose professionalism rakes in $ 6 billion turnover in the seafood sector annually. Half this sum is as forex earnings which props up Vietnam’s aqua-driven economy.

The visit has been organised by the Rotary District 3230 Tsunami Relief Committee in partnership with the Fisheries Department of Tamil Nadu. The unique Rotary programme is the newest in a series of community uplift initiatives conceived to rehabilitate the thousands of coastal folk devastated by the tsunami of 2004, Benjamin Cherian, chairman of the relief committee told a press meet on Friday. In the fisherman hamlet of Pulicat, for instance, the organisation is pumping in nearly Rs. 1.5 crore for a community hall, ice plant and renovating 5 schools.

“The interventions have looked beyond disaster relief operations and been aimed at making a difference to the lives of the affected people,” said Rotary district governor A. Subramaniam.

The group of fishermen will return from the training and spread the knowledge to others in their community.

Squid fishing, that is a nocturnal engagement, sea cage culture, seafood processing and packaging in ready-to-cook packs will form part of the training organised by Vietnam’s Aquaculture Ministry.

The huge potential of India’s fisheries sector remains largely under-exploited. Seafood exports are way below what a small country like Vietnam achieves. The long-term goal is to establish a sea farm off Chennai that could become a model in value-added aqua culture for the entire country, said M. Sakthivel, former MPEDA chairman and president of the Aquaculture Federation of India.

Shambu Kallolikar, Fisheries Commissioner, had a word of counsel for the fishermen on the eve of their departure: use the learning opportunity with diligence, and on returning, maximise the spread of newly-gained knowledge to fellow fisherfolk.

Senthil Kumaran, one of the fishermen in the group who hails from Palayar hamlet, expressed confidence that the trip would be fruitful.

Rotary, which is mobilising about Rs. 10 lakh for the trip, envisages making the training programme a regular feature–and perhaps take it to other States, if sponsors chip in.

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