The Hindu Business Line : AIFI to venture into tuna fishing

THE Association of Indian Fishery Industries (AIFI) here is planning to take up tuna fishing venture with the help of a Colombo-based exporter for exporting the same to Japan.Brigadier (retd) S.K Aggarwal, President of AIFI, said at a press meet here on Sunday that the earlier attempt of the deep-sea trawler operators here had not succeeded as there was no supporting infrastructure on land, even though the operation was successful and the tuna catch was good enough.

``However, in view of the earlier experiences, we have tied up with a Colombo-based exporter now who has promised to set up a processing plant in Chennai. We are planning to upgrade 15-20 trawlers to facilitate tuna fishing in deep seas with the subsidy given by the Union Government, subject to a ceiling of Rs 15 lakh per vessel, for diversification,'' he explained.

He said the spiralling fuel costs, dwindling catches, drop in the size of catch and falling export prices had pushed the trawler operators to the brink. ``We have to diversify into tuna fishing or perish,'' he said.

He said tuna was presently fetching $8-10 per kg in the Japanese market and ``the Colombo exporter has also promised us to pick up the B-grade catch (low-value fish other than tuna) at $2-3 per kg. That will make the operation economically viable.'' He said a cooperative may be formed soon and the operation may start within two months.

He said that, apart from tuna fishing, the association members were also planning to take up ``pole and line'' fishing on the entire coast including Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Value-addition by way of head-on packing of shrimp and better use of by-products were also being contemplated, he said.

Brigadier Aggarwal and other association members were critical of the Government's policy with regard to granting of Letter of Permission (LOP) to fish in Indian waters.

``The LOP vessels are pseudo-Indian vessels and only seven LOP operators are gaining. All others, including the Government, are losing. It should be scrapped immediately,'' they demanded.