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The West Bengal government plans to implement the ‘Integrated Fishing Zone’ model similar to the one being practised in aquaculture farms in coastal Andhra Pradesh.
“We want to replicate the integrated fishing zones model followed in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. From the next year, we would float expressions of interest inviting farmers and entrepreneurs to lease commercial water ponds and the adjoining lands under this,” said Sayeed Ahmed Baba, principal secretary - Fisheries, West Bengal. He was here today as part of the industrial investment promotion campaign — Global Bengal Business Summit.
Under the integrated model, the entire value chain, involving creation of fish ponds, hatcheries, feed mills, cold storage and fish processing and packaging is captured within the hub.
As the demand for seafood, particularly fish, is high in West Bengal, the state imports twice its annual production (1.47 million tonne during 2011-12) from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha among others. The united Andhra Pradesh, during 2011-12, exported 70 per cent of its annual 1.60 million tonne production to West Bengal.
The government official said some of the big fish dealers having operations in Bhimavaram (West Godavari) and other places in East Godavari had evinced interest in investing in the proposed integrated fishing zones at Diamond Harbour in South 24 Paraganas district and Digha, which is a seaside resort in East Midnapore.
Each zone, covering 500-700 acres of land and water bodies, would be auctioned starting from the next year and is capable of attracting an investment of Rs 300-500 crore, according to him.
He said the policy would help farmers adopt modern practices in acquaculture besides creating an industrial ecosystem for producing aqua feed, seafood processing and packaging.
“This is probably an important step towards making West Bengal a hub for marine foods,” he said.
In order to assist entrepreneurs coming to invest in the state’s fishing sector, he said, the department of fisheries was in discussion with the consultants in Andhra Pradesh for assisting in the preparation of a detailed project report and technical issues.
