In the early 1970s, export of shrimp gradually developed in India. Suddenly, it was noticed that shrimp, abundantly available in India and considered a lower grade seafood, became scarce and expensive. As the demand rose, in the 80s prawn farming became a very profitable venture. Seafood export from India for 2012-13 was Rs18,556 crore, and in the State of Odisha it zoomed to Rs1,817 crore in 2013-14 compared to Rs886.15 crore the year ago, an increase of over 105 per cent. Value-added processing can substantially increase the turnover and profit margin further not only for shrimp but for other commercial fishes.
Tuna is a large fish, a class by itself. The economy of many Pacific islands depends on the tuna industry besides countries like Philippines, Indonesia, Mauritius, Spain, Maldives, etc., where the industry is highly developed contributing largely to their MSMEs. In India, the tuna industry is developing fast in lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands. Tuna being considered an extremely healthy diet is marketed either fresh and chilled or frozen world over, the main market being Japan. Commercial fishing can contribute substantially to the Indian economy. It is a valuable source of foreign exchange and provides employment to millions. It's not just about fishing. Seafood-related jobs include processing, packing, transport, retail and restaurants.
India has witnessed substantial growth in fishing in the last two decades. The country's rich marine and inland water resources and an Exclusive Economic Zone stretching 200 nautical miles (370 km) offer an attractive sector for employment and food security. The fishing industry contributes over 1% to the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment to over 14 million people. India is, however, described as a “sleeping giant” because of its untapped marine fish capture potential. Observations by various agencies indicate that a considerable magnitude of untapped tuna resource is available especially in oceanic waters of the Indian EEZ for sustainable exploitation.
Tuna has high nutritional value. It provides adequate food security. It is a saltwater finfish belonging to the scombridae family. Tuna occurs in temperate to tropical waters. The principal market species of tuna (oceanic) are skipjack, yellow fin, bigeye, albacore, northern bluefin, and southern blue fin. The tunas show distinct migratory routes, spawning and feeding locations. They form the third largest product in international seafood trade. The major gears harvesting tunas are gillnet hooks and line (hand lines, long lines, troll lines, pole and lines, etc.), purse-seine, ring seine and trawl.
Scenario in India: According to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the organisation responsible for management of the tuna stocks of Indian Ocean, many tuna stocks are adequately exploited whereas other species stand underexploited. Coastal/neritic tunas are the mainstay of traditional tuna fishery and are exploited at very close levels (98%) to their potential yield of 65,472 t which means that the coastal area offers little scope of improvement but enormous scope remains for increasing tuna production from the oceanic waters of the EEZ. landings of oceanic tuna represent only 23% of the potential. Tuna fishery of India has undergone several changes like modernisation, diversification, intensification and extension of fishing practices to new grounds, but the country is still a small player in the global market. During 2008-12, India had caught 39,000 tonnes of yellow fin and skipjack tuna against a potential of 1,79,000 tonnes. So, India is harvesting only about 1/5th of its potential.
India has been undertaking programmes to study the production of tunas by region. Almost 90.5% of the total tuna landings of the country are from the mainland coast with statistics of 47.3% of the landings from the west coast and 43.2% from the east coast. The major share of the catch, 41.3% is from the south-east coast. Contribution by north east is comparatively low (1.9%).The lakshadweep Islands with a contribution of 7.3% offers the most organised tuna fishery. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands also offers some of the best tuna fishing grounds in the EEZ, but since the oceanic tunas are migratory, the tuna that could have been caught by the Indian fleet in the Andaman and Nicobar waters mostly get harvested in the EEZs of neighbouring countries.
Except from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and lakshadweep, no concerted efforts are made to tap oceanic resources. Seas around oceanic island territories are reported to have the highest concentrations of oceanic tunas, but yields from these areas were very low. Vast areas of oceanic waters largely remain inaccessible to the coast-based fleets.
Tuna fishery development in India: The Marine Products Exports and Development Authority (MPEDA) has been instrumental in developing tuna fishing in India. There are schemes providing subsidies for conversion of existing fishing vessels to tuna long liners. The MPEDA has provided assistance worth Rs 370 lakh for conversion of 112 fishing vessels to monofilament long liners. It has also requested the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services to develop an advisory system in similar lines to the Potential Fishing Zone Advisory services.
Suggestions: A) Development of indigenous tuna fishing fleet: A prerequisite to sustainable tuna fishing in the EEZ is development of a wholly Indian-owned fishing fleet. An intermediate range of tuna monofilament long liner with a good endurance and crew capacity is the need of the hour. Further with the increasing fuel costs, crew shortages, it may be prudent to operate smaller boats as they tend to be more economical.
B) Equity from NFDB: The National Fisheries Development Board may contribute certain percentage of the total cost of construction of boats and vessels as equity participation and the beneficiaries could raise the balance through loan. The board can also consider constructing tuna long liners of intermediate size range and lease it to willing entrepreneurs/ groups of fishers.
C) Investing in human resource: Organisations like CIFNET (Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical Engineering and Training) should engage master trainers from tuna fishing nations like Japan, Indonesia, Spain to get the requisite knowhow on handling of the gear (in particular monofilament long lines), use of baits, onboard handling of the fish and its preservation, onshore handling of the catch, grading, packing and processing for providing ideal training.
D) Development of infrastructure: In fishing harbours at Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Cochin and Mumbai, it is essential that the infrastructure be renovated to ensure optimum levels of sanitation and all other facilities that are required for quick handling of the catch before it is sent to the processing unit. A need for upgradation and modernisation of processing units also exists.
E) Participation of MSMEs: The Government may initiate dialogues with the importing countries, especially the EU, for duty-free import of Indian tuna products so as to facilitate a level playing field for Indian entrepreneurs.
India with its vast coastline of 7,517 km can focus on tuna industry to develop its MSMEs. Every part of the fish can be processed and marketed in India or exported to boost the MSMEs, especially in the maritime States. The practical hindrance experienced in tapping the high potential tuna resources still remains, that is, the availability of need-based finance. The tuna industry should be included in the priority sector landing and adequate funds must be available in time for growth of this industry.
(The writer is working chairperson, Entrepreneurs & Finance Customers Association of India-EFCAI. Email: — efcai12@gmail.com)