The Hindu Business Line : ‘Domestic market important for fisheries’

Kakinada, Feb. 18 The domestic market is as important for the fisheries sector as the export market, and therefore attention should be paid to their equal development, said Dr S. Ayyappan, Deputy Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Fisheries).

He was talking to the press here on Monday, after inaugurating a molecular biology laboratory at the Central Institute of Fisheries Education. He said the focus should be on the metros and other cities in promoting fisheries. It was not desirable to depend entirely on the export market, even though export earnings were necessary.

He said there was demand for jellyfish and octopus from China, Singapore and Hong Kong. “India is trying to meet the requirements subject to certain restrictions. The Indian fisheries industry is diversifying into species other than shrimp of late and that is a healthy trend,” he remarked.

On the whole, however, growth of the agricultural sector, of which fisheries is a part, was not very impressive in comparison with the other sectors in recent times, Dr Ayyappan said.

He said the fisheries sector could deal with the problem of anti-biotic residues in exported fish and efforts to meet the quality specifications of the US and European markets were considerably successful.

Dr Dilip Kumar, CIFE Director, said the institute was conducting training programmes for farmers and soon a fresh batch of 400 farmers would join the institute. Later, he participated in a seminar on aquaculture conducted by Adikavi Nannayya University at Rajahmundry. He spoke about the problems and prospects of the sector in Andhra Pradesh.

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