AP to give commercial importance for Marine Products

Hyderabad, June 4 (INN): Andhra Pradesh Government is giving commercial importance for producing Marine Products in a traditional manner in the State, Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao said.

The Chief Secretary chaired a meeting on Thursday with the officials of Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) Govt. of India, Fisheries, Planning and Water Resources Department and the District Collectors of Krishna, Nellore, East and West Godavari, to review on the progress in establishment of hatcheries for diversified aquaculture species in the State. MPEDA Chairman Leena Nair said that MPEDA is a nodal agency for promotion of sea food exports from India.

Activities of promoting of Marine Product viz., L. Vannamei and Black Tiger shrimp farming, Mud Crab culture, Sea bass culture, Tilapia culture, revival of Scampi culture, deep sea fishing, establishment of diagnosis labs, extension of technology and training are discussed in the meeting.

To diversify the aquaculture sector, Government of Andhra Pradesh is proposing to constitute teams for survey and identification of suitable sites for establishing new hatcheries for new species like Tilapia, Mud Crab, Sea Bass, Cobia, Scampi and others. MPEDA is requested to nominate the technical Officers for technical assistance by supplying the quality of fish and prawn seeds to the Fisheries Department for promoting aquaculture in Andhra Pradesh.

The MPEDA Officials informed that they will extend technical support to the aqua farmers during the entire culture period and also assist in marketing, as the Government of A.P. is considering for establishing and operation of Aquatic Quarantine Facility Centres (AQF) for L. Vannamei in the State under Private Public Partnership (PPP) mode by involving National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB). MPEDA will prepare required project proposals for establishment of AQF at Nellore, Visakhapatnam, Krishna and other Coastal Districts.

The Government of A.P. may adopt the procedure of National Centre of Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA), as NaCSA is promoting the cluster approach for uplifting the livelihood of small-scale shrimp farmers in brackish water. MPEDA is requested to direct the NaCSA to expand their activities in the coastal districts to bring all the shrimp farmers into fold of Aqua Societies and to promote these societies to form Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) to promote collective marketing, technology transfer etc., in the field. Registration of shrimp farmers may also be taken up in Single Window method to legitimate the operations, Sri Krishna Rao said.

The Chief Secretary has suggested that an AQF Centre may be established at Visakhapatnam, it can cater to hatcheries and the Government will support to provide necessary infrastructure to the AQFC. Quarantine is main sovereign issue, hence it shall be operated by the Government only, Chief Secretary added.

Establishment of disease diagnostic Labs and quality control Labs are also discussed during the meeting. Export Inspection Council of India proposing to establish a new lab in Visakhapatnam.

The Chief Secretary has issued instructions to the concerned to strengthening and modification of Fisheries Department Lab at Kakinada immediately. All the District Collectors are requested to hold meetings fortnightly on the progress and clearances of land for aquaculture; to process the registration of Farmers; and strict monitoring on labs by the taskforce is required.

Spl. Chief Secretary Planning S.P. Tucker, Prl. Secretary Water Resources Dept., Aditya N Das, Commissioner Fisheries Dept., Ramshankar Naik and others attended the meeting.