The Hindu Business Line : Govt may allow import of tuna long-liners

THE Union Government is planning to allow purchase of used tuna long-liners from abroad to promote deep-sea fishing, according to Mr V.S. Somvanshi, Director-General of the Fishery Survey of India.

He said here on Thursday that the Ministry of Agriculture had formulated a two-pronged strategy. It wanted conversion of existing trawlers into tuna long liners on 50 per cent subsidy. Secondly, it also would encourage purchase of vessels from abroad.

He said the main objective of encouraging tuna fishing was to increase seafood exports from India. Over-exploitation of shrimp was not desirable, he said.

Dr Somvanshi, a member of the high-power committee set up to finalise guidelines on tuna fishing, said they would allow entry of 150 to 200 big vessels and introduce intermediary fishing vessels.

The intermediary vessels could be built by the Indian shipyards including Vizag-based Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) with insulated fish hold at a cost of Rs 50 lakh to 80 lakh. Conversion of existing large vessels into long-liners would need an investment of Rs 25 lakh to 30 lakh, while a new vessel would cost around Rs 4.5 crore.

Dr Somvanshi said Fish Survey of India had projected an annual yield of 2.46 lakh tonnes of tuna in the Exclusive Economic Zone extending over 2.02 million sq km. Sixty per cent of this could be converted into Sashmi grade fetching $8 a kg and the ordinary one at $2 a kg.

Four Visakhapatnam-based trawlers had already been diversified into tuna long-liners on an experimental basis a few months ago. During their recent trials, the entrepreneurs had returned to the shore with a big catch, which found ready takers in Japan. Four more trawlers were being converted into tuna long-liners by next month, he said.

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