Visakhapatnam: Venkaiah hopes India will soon become No 1 in fishery exports
Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu along with Tourism Minister M Srinivasa Rao visits CIFT and CMFRI in Visakhapatnam on Monday
Visakhapatnam: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu said India stands as the fourth largest exporter of fisheries in the world and the country would soon become the number one in fishery exports.
Paying a visit to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), the Vice-President said there's a need to address fisheries issues in India as soon as possible and suggested a three-pronged strategy. Sustainable management of resources, prevention of damage due to climate change and better pricing by improving facilities were some of the suggestions made.
India is the second largest producer of fisheries in the world and further development could be achieved by utilising inland and marine fisheries, the Vice President mentioned. The Vice-President said the pandemic motivated people towards healthy eating habits and that they should continue even after the pandemic.
The Vice-President interacted with the scientists and staff of the CMFRI and CIFT. He said health experts and nutritionists were now suggesting raising awareness among the public about the health benefits of including fish in their daily diet.
He said the fisheries industry, which started as a small-scale industry and has grown into one of the most vital social and economic forces for our country in the last few decades.
Expressing concern over the lack of availability of quality fish stocks, the Vice-President said efforts taken by the research institutes have shown a significant solution to this problem, but there are still huge opportunities for innovation in this regard.
Further, the Vice-President suggested that the focus should be on minimising losses by setting up the necessary infrastructure such as cold storages. He called for the municipal bodies to take special interest in creating clean and attractive fish markets.
Among others, Tourism Minister M Srinivasa Rao, District Collector V Vinay Chand, Director CMFRI A. Gopalakrishnan, Scientist-in-Charge of Visakhapatnam Research Centre of CIFT R Raghu Prakash and Scientist-in-Charge, Visakhapatnam regional centre of CMFRI Shubhadeep Ghosh were present.