 "Fisherman in the Arabian sea")
Inland fish production in India has almost tripled in the last nine years, Union minister Parshottam Rupala said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of 'Global Fisheries Conference India 2023' organised by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying at Science City here on the occasion of World Fisheries Day.
"Fisheries is India's sunrise sector and PM Narendra Modi has given priority to it. Our country today ranks third globally in terms of fish production and we are connected with the world through this trade. Country's inland fish production has almost tripled in the last nine years and still, there are immense growth opportunities," said Rupala.
Addressing a press conference later, Rupala said the Modi government, since 2015, has allocated Rs 38,000 crore under different schemes including the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojna, whereas only Rs 3,680 crore was allocated to this sector by the previous governments till 2014.
Rupala said this was the first time when a global fisheries conference was being organised in India.
Ministers of seven states and representatives of various organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank, along with representatives of nine different countries, are attending this conference, the Union minister said.
Underlining that the livelihood of nearly 8 crore people is dependent on the fisheries sector, Rupala said challenges, opportunities, and best practices for this sector will be discussed during the global conference on fisheries in two days.
More From This Section
Rupala said his ministry has approved the development of five fishing harbours in Gujarat.
On the occasion, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel declared 'Ghol' as the state fish of Gujarat.
Notably, Ghol fish, commonly called the black-spotted croaker fish, is one of the most expensive varieties of fish available in the country.
At the conference, CM Patel said Gujarat's annual fish export stands at Rs 5,000 crore, which is 17 per cent of the total fish export from India.
In 2021-22, Gujarat's total fish production was 18 lakh tons while fish export was 2 lakh tons, said Patel.
Gujarat Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Raghavji Patel said more than 400 Indian fishermen were released by Pakistan this year, owing to the joint efforts by the Centre and state governments.
He appealed to the Union government to ensure the release of the remaining 185 Indian fishermen languishing in jails in Pakistan on the charges of crossing IMBL (International Maritime Boundry Line) in the Arabian Sea.
He also urged the Centre to approve an "aqua park" to boost the fisheries sector in Gujarat.
The Global Fisheries Conference India 2023 was conceptualised by the Department of Fisheries with the aim of devising a way forward for the Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture sector in conjunction with the stakeholders from the fisheries value chain, an official release said.
More than 5000 participants will be hosted during the two days for multiple sessions and engaged in thought-provoking discussions and deliberations. A series of ten sessions have been planned for the technical sessions and the 'industry connect' sessions, it said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
