Union Fisheries Minister Rupala calls for more innovation in the fisheries sector

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Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Production, Parshottam Rupala, commended the start-up enterprises and the scientific community for developing innovative technologies for the benefit of fishermen. He also praised it for enhancing fish production and productivity by adopting modern and scientific methods in fishing and aquaculture.

He was addressing the National Fish Farmers Day 2023 meeting, Summer Fisheries and Startup Council meeting in Mahabalipuram near Chennai on Monday. Highlighting a recent innovation, the union minister said the ‘Report Fish Disease’ app was released last week, which helps farmers report disease cases in finfish, shrimp and molluscs in their farms to field officials and fish health experts and get scientific advice quickly.

Rupala said aquaculture is one of the fastest growing sectors of food production and provides livelihood and employment to around three crore fishermen and fish farmers in the country. The center has introduced Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) with an investment of Rs 20,050 crore, the highest ever investment in the fisheries and aquaculture sector of the country, to bring about the ‘Blue Revolution’.

way forward

In his speech, L Murugan, Union Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy said that only about Rs 4,000 crore was invested in the fisheries sector between 1950 and 2014. “But in the last nine years, Rs 38,000 crore has been invested In this sector through schemes such as the Blue Revolution Plan, the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) and PMMSY.

He added that as announced in the Union Budget, work to modernize five fishing ports in Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Pradeep and Betwagat has already begun to make them centers of economic activity.

Appilaksh Lekhi, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, said the meeting is a session to discuss and review policy issues, progress on schemes, ground-level implementation, results and make mid-course corrections.

Lekhi added that grouping of fish farmers into Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), creation of small fisheries ventures and agri-start-ups, private sector participation, technology inclusion and adoption would be four factors for the growth of fisheries industries.

Rupala also presented prizes to 12 start-ups that won the ‘Fisheries Start-up Grand Challenge’ for making an exceptional impact in the fisheries ecosystem.