Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala, on 27 September 2021, addressed the fisheries and aquaculture industry at ASSOCHAM’s Virtual Conference on Fisheries & Aquaculture. In his address, the minister said that the best practices are being involved and executed by the Union Government to revive the economy in this sector. The Fisheries sector has a vast domestic market to capture in India. Adding to this, the minister said, “ PMMSY was launched by Govt. of India last year, is now benefitting the fishers of India at large. Many sub-schemes are covered under PMMSY’s vast umbrella, which is directly or indirectly benefitting the fishers. These schemes are aligned to double the exports, double the production of fish and hence doubling the fisher’s income in line with the idea of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.”

He further added that the sector would experience an upthrust and generate employment for more than 50 lac people across the nation in the coming time. Towards the end, the minister assured all possible support from Govt. of India to the fishers of the nation in uplifting and reviving the sector.

This discussion was held in a virtual conference organized by the ASSOCHAM on Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry with a theme “Strategic roadmap towards enabling Blue Revolution & Economic Growth”. Along with the presence of Minister of Fisheries Parshottam Rupala as a Chief Guest. The digital session has gained more value and insights with the presence of sectoral key stakeholders from Government and industry stakeholders from ASSOCHAM.

On behalf of ASSOCHAM, Chintan Thaker, chairman, ASSOCHAM Gujarat Council, welcomed all the esteemed guest speakers from across the nation. Thaker assured the timely cooperation and support of ASSOCHAM in coming up for the revival of the sector.

K S Srinivas, chairman, MPEDA, said, “The Marine Products Exports Development Authority is also helping revive the sector by taking various timely measures. It is the prime concern of MPEDA to provide unique solutions to the problems faced by the Marine Industry bodies, ensuring smooth and proper operation of the sector along with maintaining quality and implemented various programs to meet the required concerns regarding food safety.”

Giving more technical insight about the PMMSY and other fisheries-related schemes, Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary, Department of Fisheries, said, “The scheme was started in May 2020 with an array of 100 diverse activities. With a budget of Rs 20,050 crore, it is the largest investment in the fisheries sector. The strategy and the concerted and collaborative efforts between the stakeholders and government are required to achieve ambitious targets under the scheme. These targets are Rs 1,00,000 crore fisheries export, additional 70 lakh tonnes fish production, and generation of 55 lakh employment in the years to come.

The other speakers present in the session were from different parts of India, involved in the occupation of fisheries & aquaculture; they discussed and brought out all the possible ways to cope with the current situation faced by the fisheries and aquaculture industry inside the nation. The other eminent speakers of the session, representing the interest of industry bodies were Dr Manoj M Sharma, director, Mayank Aquaculture; Amit Salunkhe, chief alliance officer, Aquaconnect; and Dhaval Raval, chairman - Agriculture and Food Processing Committee, ASSOCHAM Gujarat Council, along with Dr Venkatesh Iyer, editor in chief, The SME India as a moderator for the session.

Further, the session was supported by NABARD and Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission and Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat.

The session was attended by major industry bodies of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry or leading industrialists, exporters, educationists, bureaucrats, FPOs, and other industry professionals.