The Hindu Business Line : Seafood exporters seek separate ministry for marine sector

SEAFOOD exporters are disappointed with the Union Government's indifferent policy towards marine food exports, which have a high demand in the international market, according to Mr A.J. Tharakan, President of the Seafood Exporters' Association of India.

Though India is the world's second largest producer of seafood after China, Indian seafood exports are stagnant at $1.3 billion. Besides, the annual seafood exports of smaller countries like Vietnam have gone up from 20,000 tonnes to 2.5 million tonnes during the last five years.

Asian countries account for 90 per cent of the world's aqua production, while in India 70 per cent of the production originate from Andhra Pradesh.

He explained that exporters were of the view that a separate ministry should be formed to deal with aquaculture, as the Union Minister of Agriculture might not be able to do justice to it.

Mr Tharakan said the association was planning to meet MPs from the coastal states to take up the various problems plaguing the industry.

He contended that there was a good demand in the US and European markets for marine products, particularly the scampi (freshwater prawns) of Andhra Pradesh.

He regretted that were no worthwhile measures from the Government to give fillip to the industry. For instance, while other competing countries were imposing stringent conservation laws to avoid the over-exploitation of marine resources , in India there was no such law. Mr Thakaran said Parliament should come out with a legislation avoid any indiscriminate exploitation of aqua resources in the country.

The banks, according to Mr Tharakan, were also not willing to finance aquaculture, as they considered it a "high-risk'' venture. He said the association would soon meet the NABARD (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development) officials to seek the bank's assistance for the sector.

However, Mr Thakaran complimented the Union Commerce Ministry for putting up a spirited fight in the courts against the US ''anti-dumping'' duties on countries like India on export of seafood.

Earlier, at a press conference, Mr Kajuto Takuma, Director, Higashimaru International Japan and Mr Albert Takoon, an aqua nutritionist from the UK, said in recent times aqua products from India and other Asian countries were rejected by the US due to the presence of antibiotics and hormones.

In order to overcome the problem, Higashimaru had pioneered the production of feeds free from antibiotics and hormones. All feeds were being regularly tested and certified by reputed scientific institutions such as CIFT and by the Export inspection Agency (EIA) for antibiotics and hormones.

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