Fisheries are an integral part of agriculture and food processing. These sectors constitute the thurst areas of MSMEs (medium, small and micro enterprises). They are interlinked. Hence, focussing on fisheries would strengthen agriculture, food processing and the MSMEs which are the growth engine of any nation. India is fortunately gifted with abundant fishery resources, both marine and inland, which still remain underexploited to a large extent.
India is the biggest peninsula in the world. With its coastline of about 4,800 km, having an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles (about 370 km from the coast, the marine wealth in the EEZ belongs to the country). When we consider the EEZ around Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the eastern limit stretches up to the Thailand territorial waters, and in the South it reaches up to Indonesia. It is like the total Bay of Bengal belonging to India. Similarly, the lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands stretch up to the Indian Ocean with a large part in the Arabian Sea.
So, India needs to be equipped with not only fleets of deep sea trawlers, but it must also have factory ships processing marine products fresh on board to exploit at least a part of the marine fisheries the nature has gifted to this country. But India today has hardly about 60 deep sea trawlers in its EEZ. Interestingly, out of this 60, about 40 are engaged in non-fishing activities like supply boats to oil rigs and survey ships. The remaining 20 are mostly laid up for repairs or unable to continue fishing due to working capital constraints.
Presently, India has a large number of catamarans, country boats, or mechanised boats. Such trawlers are usually of wooden hull and capable of reaching out to around 30 nautical miles. What about the resources available in the EEZ beyond 30 nautical miles and up to 200 nautical miles!
Many species of fishes are migratory in nature like tuna. The Indian EEZ has large stocks of yellow fin tuna and big eye tuna. In and around the Andaman Sea, such tuna could be of around 130 kg with an average price of about 20 dollars a kg. With developed infrastructure, India could easily achieve an export target of 6 billion dollars to be achieved by 2015. The present scenario is such that Indian waters are continuously being poached by foreign trawlers belonging mainly to Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia and even Philippines. Near the Indira Point, the southern tip of Andamans, the foreign trawlers not only take away our marine wealth but also the forest produce from the jungles of the island. let alone such wealth, the vast stretch of unattended water areas in our EEZ has become home to the terrorists and smugglers.
On the contrary, the coastal areas are over-fished. The north tip of the Bay of Bengal, known as Sand Heads, has thousands of small boats fishing day and night, even up to the mouth of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra during the breeding season, resulting in depletion of certain species like Hilsa. One of the richest grounds in the world is the Sand Heads with mighty rivers like the Ganges and the Brahmaputra releasing food particles for the marine creatures for thousands of years. The deposits of silt carried by these rivers have also made the Bay of Bengal mouth shallow with gradual continental shelves, enabling small boats to reach out for fishing.
What we need to focus is to plan out introduction of deep sea trawlers and factory ships in the EEZ. like in Argentina, Spain, Japan, etc, we encounter factory ships, usually known as mother ships, with deep sea trawlers sailing together as a fleet. The trawlers unload their catches in the factory ships which process and market the products online. The catches can be unloaded in any of the international ports at a given date.
Focussing on Odisha, which has about 480 km of coastline and hundreds of landing bases, we need to strengthen our fishing fleet with deep sea trawlers as well. Till date, the State had one registered deep sea trawler, SAI Sadhaba, acquired with finance from the OSFC. Eventually, this was sold out after seven years of successful operations due to non-availability of working capital to run it. It is a matter of great realisation that our Chief Minister has asked to double the fish output in five years from 2.37 lMT to 4.33 lMT. This is only for the inland fisheries. Such steps are also required to develop the marine catches mainly through deployment of deep sea trawlers.
It has also been a matter of great concern that a large part of Odisha’s coastline, which is probably the best-suited fishing ground, is banned for fishing during the breeding season of Olive Ridley turtles. The areas like Gahirmatha, Rashikulya, Devi and Jatahari sea mouth are probably the best grounds which are under the ban. The fishermen in these areas also suffer due to lack of rehabilitation as complained by the Odisha Traditional Marine Fish Workers’ Union (OTFWU).
Due to periodic bans on sea fishing on account of turtle protection, more than three lakh traditional marine fishermen spread over 284 fishing villages under six coastal districts of Odisha are living in uncertain future and many of them have migrated outside the State in search of jobs. Turtle conservation is important, but the fishermen need adequate rehabilitation. The State Government has launched various schemes for development of fisheries, mainly inland fisheries. It has announced a 50-per cent subsidy for aquaculture growth. The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), Bhubaneswar, is also actively involved in training fishermen and entrepreneurs for fisheries development. But despite all such facilities, why the State is still lagging behind in production of fish to the extent that we look up to States like Andhra Pradesh for providing us our daily requirement! On interaction with various fishery associations in the States, it was revealed that most fishermen, though happy with the schemes that the Odisha Government has launched, most of them are not being implemented in true sense. Besides, the major complaints lie in the unavailability of working capital to a fisherman to meet the running expenses of his boat. They need funds to buy nets, diesel, provisions and spares and also to meet salary of the crew. If working capital funds are tied up through a cooperative bank or any other scheduled bank, the schemes can finally see the light of the day. And the woe of a fisherman by borrowing funds from a private moneylender and finally landing in a debt trap situation can be avoided.
Many fishermen are forced to work in other States as bonded labourers after losing their boats and livelihood. Several fishermen have committed suicide under such debt trap situations. The poverty of fishermen in our State can be largely reversed by ensuring need-based working capital funds to them.
It is a matter of regret that out of Rs 776.14 crore allotted by the Centre to our State’s Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department under the last Five-Year Plan, Rs 106.47 crore was refunded to the Centre due to non-utilisation. With a working capital tie-up, the position is bound to improve and the fisheries would flourish in the State. Besides banks, there are also various other financial institutions such as the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) which have dedicated funds for deployment in the fishing sector.
The marine resources provided to us can be matched with the mines of Odisha if proper infrastructure is laid up for harvesting the same along with the need to provide adequate and timely finance.
Realising the vast potential of fisheries in the State, National Association of Fishermen (NAF) chairman Dr GK Bhanji and secretary general Dr MK Tomar with Harendra N Mahapatra as president for the Odisha and West Bengal launched the NAF’s Odisha chapter on April 19, 2013 with a view to consolidating the State’s various fishery associations and working towards fishery development.
With the abundance of lakes, rivers, ponds and the vast stretch of exclusive economic zone, India is poised to become a focal point in the world scenario for both inland and marine fisheries. Odisha with its coastline, river network and the country’s biggest lagoon of Chilika can become the nucleus for its commercial as well as social significance. We can be a specialised and standout country/ State, a world power in the fishery sector.
(The writer is the Working Chairperson of the Entrepreneurs & Finance Customers Association of India- EFCAI)