The Hindu Business Line : `Tsunami impact on marine sector brief'

THE impact of the tsunami on the seafood industry has not been very significant and will be of a temporary nature, Mr G. Mohan Kumar, Chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), has said.

While the industry as a whole might come out unscathed from the calamity in the medium term, uncertainty still pervades in the fishing sector over which authentic estimates are still unavailable.

Most of the aquaculture farms would not have been affected given that the winter crop would have been harvested and the summer cropping would not have commenced.

There were reports of production from some of the hatcheries having been affected, mainly their intake systems, Mr Mohan Kumar said. Among the production and processing centres, one unit in Tamil Nadu had been seriously affected. All in all, the industry had not been seriously affected, he said.

But it is the thousands of fishing hamlets and lakhs of fishermen who have borne the brunt of the tidal waves. Their nets have been washed away, fishing gear have been damaged, boats have been smashed and means of livelihood have been destroyed.

With the enormity of the disaster, fishing activities in large parts of the country would be arrested for at least a week to ten days, sources in the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said. In severely affected areas where the fishing boats and nets have been totally destroyed, there would be no fishing activity for several months, until the boats and nets can be replaced, the sources added.

But they also hastened to add that this would have no long-term impact on the organised industry and marine exports. Shrimp exports still remain the most significant component, constituting the biggest chunk in the total marine exports from the country. However, the bulk of shrimp exports are now sourced from aquaculture, which has not been significantly affected. The major season for the shrimp catch from the sea is over. Similarly, the major export season, coinciding with the Christmas and New Year festivities were also over, the sources said.

But the Rs 6,200-crore marine export sector constitutes between 15 and 20 per cent of the total catch from the sea. Every year, the catch from the sea is estimated at 2.7 million tonnes. Of this, just around 7 lakh tonnes would go in for value-addition and export.

Fishing is a seasonal occupation and provides employment for 250 days on an average, sources in MPEDA said. The misery of the poorer fishermen will be compounded as their active fishing days are reduced even further this year. And until they get their nets, fishing gear and boats are back in operation, they will be unable to pursue their traditional occupation and livelihood.

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