Accord farm status to aqua culture

Visakhapatnam: President of Seafood Exporters Association of India V Padmanabham inaugurated APFISHTECH-2018 seminar and released the Book of Abstracts. Speaking on the occasion, he said that Andhra Pradesh is the leading exporter of farmed shrimp to the United States and European Union.

The fishery sector needs to be accorded agriculture status to bring down the cost of production. Traceability of antibiotic rejections is a challenging issue that needs to be addressed on a priority basis or else the exports worth Rs 40,000 crore would be drastically affected, Padmanabhan pointed out.  

The Society of Fisheries Technologists (India), Kochi, Kerala, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT), Kochi, Kerala and Visakhapatnam Research Centre of ICAR-CIFT, Andhra Pradesh, jointly organised APFISHTECh-2018 a seminar to address opportunities and challenges in Indian fisheries and aquaculture with special reference to Andhra Pradesh on Friday.

Addressing the seminar, Padmanabhan said that the stakeholders in the fishery sector need to be educated for sustainable growth. The challenges faced by the fishery sector are huge and it needs exchange of views in the seminar as it would help in achieving good results. He encouraged youngsters to take up entrepreneurship in fisheries using start-up initiatives of the government.

Delivering the presidential address, the Director of ICAR-CIFT, Kochi and President, SOFTI, Kochi, Dr C Ravishankar, felt that Andhra Pradesh is the right place to organise a seminar on aquaculture or fisheries owing to its vast contribution to the fishery sector.

He stressed that ICAR research institutes such as CIFT, CMFRI, CIFA, CIBA and CIFRI have been contributing towards the development of fisheries sector and have been ever ready to address the problems faced by the fishers and aqua culturists.

The Director of ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar, Dr JK Sundaray, emphasised economical use of water in crop production. He underlined that aqua-farmers should lay faith on capable partners in the country and use indigenous technology for economical benefits.