October 23, 2019

 

India government controlled-company to issue moratorium restricting exploitation of food fish resources

 

 

A company under the Government of India plans to issue a moratorium on the registration of new fishmeal and fish oils units from January 1 next year, The Hindu Business Line reported on October 22.

 

The move by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (Mpeda) is part of efforts to control overexploitation of food fish resources. The moratorium would also extend to enhancement of production capacity by existing fishmeal units.

 

Rampant juvenile fishing, especially for fishmeal and fish oil production, is becoming a big problem that has led to stagnating catches of commercially important species and risks the depletion of the food fish resources from the marine capture sector, according to KS Srinivas, chairman of  Mpeda.

 

Additionally, both the livelihood of fishermen and availability of human protein source from sea catch are threatened.

 

"Hence, it has become the need of the hour to take effective measures towards sustainable development of fisheries and to curtail activities that directly or indirectly promote overexploitation of marine fishery resources," Srinivas said.

 

The increase of fishmeal and fish oil factories in India over a decade has been attributed to a rising demand for aquaculture feed mills and the exponential increase in Vannamei shrimp production, senior Mpeda officials pointed out.

 

The paucity of sea catch in required sizes and quantities also affected the economic viability of the processing units and handling centres that primarily depend on marine fishery resources.

 

The overexploitation of food fish for aqua feed is also a matter brought up by stakeholders and researchers in the Indian seafood industry, the officials said.

 

Welcoming the move, Dawood Sait, national secretary of the Fish Meal Producers Association, said  imposing a moratorium  will help achieve the objective of sustainable fishing and curb juvenile fishing.

 

However, Mpeda should convene a stakeholders meeting before imposing restrictions, as new small fishmeal producers have already made investments in land and machinery to set up units by availing loans. These units have to be kept out of the purview of the moratorium, Sait added.

 

There are about 56 fishmeal industrial units in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

 

- The Hindu Business Line