22 April 2005
India The Indian administration is now planning to take tuna fishing in a big way. “We have a huge potential for tuna fishing in the AndamanSea and that should exploited,†Dr. R.B. Rai, director of Port Blair’s Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) said.
The AndamanSea has a potential of fishing 180,000 tons of tuna per annum but local fishermen do not have equipment and skill to utilize the opportunity, he said. “As a whole we are just fishing 27,000 tons per annum while from the vast sea around us altogether 220,000 tons of fishing could be done annually,†he said.
Dr. R.B. Rai, heading the CARI’s Andaman unit, has recently prepared a blue print of “Andaman fisheries road map†and completed an extensive survey on the fisheries potential of the Andaman and Nicobar islands together with other local departments.
In 2002-2003, 205,119 kg of shark flesh and 4,354 kg of fin landed in the Andamans, which produced a royalty of Rs 20,51,197 and rs. 2,17, 721 respectively for the islands. According to sources the current year figures are much higher.
“Tuna fishing can produce much more revenue than shark. If we could fish-out 150,000 tons of tuna per year, more fish from the surrounding area will be diverted here and we may get 5 million tons of additional tuna into the AndmanaSea due to availability of enough food and space,†he explained.
Dr. Rai is leaving for Cochin to participate in a two-day meeting to draw a “road map for fisheries sector in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.†The meeting will decide the Andamans’ action plan for next 30 years in fisheries sector.
“The main problem of our fishermen is that they do not venture in deep sea due to lack of motorized boats and modern equipments. They are restricted to a redius of 3 knots, which is an overexploited zone,†Dr. Rai said.
The December 26 tsunami badly hit the fishermen of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as most of them lost their boats and nets while many became victim of the giant waves.
