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Amit Mitra

VISAKHAPATNAM, Sept. 19

IN a significant development for seafood exports, the maiden voyage by two upgraded deep sea fishing vessels to net tuna fish off the coast of Visakhapatnam, as part of a major initiative taken by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and the industry to make a foray into the global tuna market, has thrown up interesting possibilities in this sector.

The two vessels, which are playing a major role in the MPEDA-supported `demonstrative tuna pilot project', returned to Visakhapatnam fishing harbour on Wednesday, each bringing home about 15 pieces of good-quality tuna.

Industry sources told Business Line that after the success of this voyage, the two vessels are now preparing for their first full-fledged tuna operation off the coast of Chennai during the course of the next week. This operation will last for more than 15 days and the tuna products would be airlifted from Chennai to the export market in Japan.

Under the pilot project, two vessels had been upgraded into tune long liners at a cost of Rs 55 lakh each, with 50 per cent contribution by MPEDA, and had set sail a few weeks ago to scour the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the coast of Visakhapatnam for the high-value tuna resources. Vital technological inputs including on-board training of crew are being provided by the Japanese company, Sanko Bussan, which has also concluded a 100 per cent buy back agreement with the trawler owners.

Industry observers are convinced that with this initial success, more vessels will be upgraded into tuna long liners and India may well become a major player in the international tuna market in the next few years, especially as the Indian EEZ is believed to offer ``limitless'' potential for tuna fishing.

With the Ministry of Agriculture having expressed the desire to earmark Rs. 15 crore for conversion of more deep sea fishing vessels into tuna long liners, industry observers feel that some 30-40 vessels could be upgraded in the next few years.

``This will give a major boost to the much-needed diversification in the Indian seafood export industry. While the size of the annual shrimp market is around Rs 20,000 crore, with India's share being about 20 per cent, the size of the tuna market is nearly the same, but India hardly has any share in it,'' a senior MPEDA official pointed out.

The on-going exercise by MPEDA and the Association of Indian Fishery Industry (AIFI) has taken care to iron out the past mistakes and incorporate suitable technology for tuna fishing.

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