In an endeavor to fulfill the international demand of Tuna fish, the Andaman & Nicobar Island administration is in quest of deep sea fishers. In the 35th India International Trade Fair, the Union Territory (UT) promoted the business of fish farming and fishing in deep oceans.
Talking about the technical hurdles in fishing, JP Tiwari, Assistant Engineer at Department of Fishing, Andaman & Nicobar said that Tuna fish is exceedingly in demand but as we are lacking deep ocean fishers, we are not able to meet the requirement of international traders.
“India could have superlative business in Tuna trading. We are here to encourage the investors in deep ocean fishing by providing them 25 per cent subsidy for the construction of deep sea fishing vessels,” said Tiwari. Tuna has high value in Asian and other international countries.
He further said that Taiwan has an advantage as the deep sea fish is served on festivals there. Tuna fish has four main categories — yellow fin, Skipjack, Bigeya and Neritic.
Through Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), it has been found that population of Tuna is high in Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) in the Indian Ocean. “The business in Tuna fishing and trading has high potential as not even Asian but European nations are also fond of Tuna and it is in demand at the international level,” said Tiwari.