Needless body

With the Union Cabinet clearing the proposal for setting up a national fisheries development board, decks have been cleared for the setting up of another body to claim credit for the success of a sector that has already been growing fast. As it is, there are about 430 fish farmers' development agencies working in different parts of the country to promote inland fisheries. The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) is doing the same job for marine fisheries. In addition, there are numerous other ongoing fisheries development projects, run and assisted by international organisations and state governments. What needs to be pondered over is how the activities of the new board will differ from those carried out by these bodies.

The fisheries sector comprises two segments""marine fisheries and inland aquaculture""which tread wholly different pathways and require totally different technological and policy interventions. No wonder then that despite more attention being paid to the marine sector, it is the inland fisheries that has accounted for much of the increase in fish production. While the output of marine fisheries has risen from 2.44 million tonnes in 1991-92 to a mere 2.77 million tonnes in 2004-05, that of inland fisheries has more than doubled from 1.71 million tonnes to 3.52 million tonnes during this period. This has made India the world's second-largest producer of inland fisheries.

What the government, therefore, needs to do is to address the policy issues that can spur further growth in this area. And there is no dearth of such issues. In the case of deep sea fishing, which is responsible for much of the fishing potential of the country's vast exclusive economic zone remaining untapped, the issues like foreign equity participation, hiring of foreign deep sea vessels and joint fishing ventures need to be settled. The deep sea fishing policy, rescinded way back in 1997, has not been re-framed as yet. There are also no clear-cut policies regarding conversion of paddy fields into shrimp farms in the coastal areas though such a conversion for inland aquaculture is going on in the country's interiors. This apart, the post-harvest infrastructure for processing, transportation, storage and marketing of fish produce is woefully under-developed. Private investment can surely be attracted to create the much-needed infrastructure but a conducive policy framework would have to be created for this to happen. If such aspects can be taken care of, there would perhaps be little need for setting up a new organisation like the one mooted for the fisheries sector.