Centre to develop Vizag fishing harbour into a major hub

Visakhapatnam: The Union Government has announced that Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour would be among five fishing harbours to be converted into a major hub for seafood exports.

The city, which has good connectivity, is the largest fish landing as well as the export centre. "We have already submitted the Detailed Project Report to the Centre at a cost of Rs.100 crore," Joint Director of Fisheries K Phani Prakash told Bizz Buzz. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy sometime ago had instructed the district administration to add some new features to make Visakhapatnam fishing harbour a world-class harbour.

Visakhapatnam has an estimated seafood export turnover of over Rs 8,000 crore. Frozen shrimp mostly Vannamei (white-leg shrimp) grown by aqua farmers accounts for a lion's share in the total exports. Though tuna is also captured by the long-liners the fishermen are unable to get a good price in the overseas market for want of processing and airlifting facilities. "Value addition has remained a long-time demand," said Arjili Dasu, an entrepreneur.

Dr Raghu Prakash, Principal Scientist of Central Institute of Fisheries Technology said the harbour mordernisation should focus on providing proper berthing and mooring facilities for different class of fishing vessels. Proper mooring facilities need to be provided to berth vessel safely even in adverse weather conditions. Harbour waters should be clean and to be maintained as per international norms. Clean portable water is a mandatory requirement as per FSSAI standards. Separate pre-processing unit, an effluents treatment plant and a hygienic fish market should be developed, he said