MPEDA ever steady at the helm of evolving fish & seafood scene.

It is the best of times, and it is perhaps also the most challenging of times. The tale of India's robust frozen seafood industry, which spans more than five decades of almost continuous growth in both volume and value of products exported, has entered an exciting period of opportunity as new chapters in value-added production and marketing are being written.

G. Mohan Kumar, chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), functioning under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, gave a "state of the industry" assessment during the opening of the 16th India International Seafood Show (IISS) held recently in Kochi, Kerala.

"During the last three years the export of marine products from India has registered a steady growth of about 12%, and in the year 2006-07 exports reached an all-time high of US $1.85 billion. During this period the European Union emerged as the largest market, accounting for 33% of India's exports," stated Chairman Kumar.

In the same period, however, exports to the United States fell to 18% of the total, largely due to non-tariff barriers and a rising value of the Indian rupee--up by 20% in relation to the depreciated US dollar last year.

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Currency instability, controversial anti-dumping duties levied by the United States, and the financial strain of posting continuous customs bonds in the USA have combined to spawn an almost perfect storm that has made selling Indian seafood to customers in the United States a complicated and risky proposition taken on by relatively few exporters these days.

"However, the industry put on a brave front as bonding requirements were challenged before the Dispute Settlement Panel of the World Trade Organization in 2007," commented Chairman Kumar. "... It is gratifying to note that after the first administrative review the overall duty was reduced from 10.7% to 7.22%."

Shrimp, shipped almost entirely in frozen form, accounted for nearly 54% of dollar value, at $997.6 million, that was generated from April 2006 through March 2007. Volume share was 22% (-5.36%), weighing in at 137,397 tons. That reflected a unit value increase of 8.63%, from $6.68 to $7.26 per kilogram.

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Drawing on widespread catches from the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, plus harvests from aqua farms dotting the landscape from south to north and east to west, Indian exporters shipped marine product bounty to upwards of 90 countries last year. Frozen finfish ranked second to shrimp in overall sales, fetching almost $322 million. That amounted to more than 17% of total export revenues.

Then came frozen cuttlefish, bringing in nearly $176 million, or 10% of the take; frozen squid, $126 million, or seven percent of the total; dried items, $41 million, or two percent. Chilled products generated $26 million in revenues, amounting to one percent of the total haul.

Future Looks Even Brighter

Looking ahead, an optimistic Chairman Kumar said that India is well poised to register double digit growth figures in the near term. Furthermore, MPEDA has set long term goals of achieving an export turnover of $4 billion by the year 2012 and $6 billion by 2017 - and to make this happen the Marine Products Export Development Authority team has prepared a dynamic action plan guided by a road map for the future.

"The plan emphasizes exploitation of tuna resources, as well as expansion and diversification of aquaculture, a quantum jump in value addition, an aggressive marketing strategy, and achievement of sustainability," commented the chairman.

"In the recent past Indian tuna has entered the market with a bang," he went on to say. "Today India exports sashimi-grade tuna to Japan, and value-added tuna products to markets like the European Union."

A. J. Tharakan, vice chairman of MPEDA and chairman of M/s. Amalgam Group of Companies, highlighted the bottlenecks faced by the seafood industry in India. He said that to cope with the current scenario, it is high time that India should opt for production of a vannamei shrimp in addition to Indian Tiger Shrimp, which has already established its brand image in the overseas markets.

Mr. Tharakan also suggested that fishermen should be given rights to engage in cage culture in inland rivers and other waters which would provide income during periods when fishing bans are in place.

"Further, culture of catfish, tilapia, basa and other high-value finfish are also to be encouraged," he added. "As world demand for fish is on the increase year to year, and since India has a climate ideally suitable for aquaculture, with proper focus and efforts, India could emerge as the second largest supplier of fish in the world."

In spite of a number of present problems, the vice chairman was confident that the sector, which accounts for about two percent of India's total hard currency receipts earned from exports, will overcome the present turmoil.

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"Government departments and industrialists have to work together to ensure sustainability of fishery resources, attain global scale in deep sea fishing, aquaculture and diversity to value-added products," he concluded.

Targeting Tuna Resource

Kurvilla Thomas, MPEDA's director of marketing, made a presentation about India's tuna industry on the second day of the IISS in Kochi. His remarks were followed by a hands-on demonstration from George L. Skoutarides on how to properly handle tuna hooked by long liners, and thus garner premium prices from quality-oriented buyers.

Exports of sashimi-grade tuna have increased from nine metric tons to 758 tons last year. Receipts for chilled product climbed to $3.54 million, compared to negligible returns the year before.

Skoutarides, a consultant and master fisherman from Australia, has been hired as a tuna advisor and trainer, as MPEDA works to bring about conversion of at least 800 mechanized boats and deep-sea fishing vessels to long liners equipped to efficiently exploit highly migratory species of Skipjack, Yellowfin and Big Eye Tuna in Indian waters.

The middle-term goal is to boost exports to US $500 million from the $29.54 million in receipts earned during 2006-07, of which frozen products accounted for a whopping $25.36 million.

MPEDA Puts Plan into Action

In order to achieve this target, pointed out Mr. Thomas, MPEDA has taken several steps to enhance the production of oceanic tuna within India's EEZ, and to develop fisheries off the 1,622-kilometer Andaman Nicobar Islands coastline and UT Lakshadweep.

One-hundred craft will be converted in the A&N islands to specialize in tuna catching, mechanized vessels from the mainland will be permitted to ply the local waters, fish aggregating devices (FAD) will be introduced, and cargo flights carrying exports from Port Blair will be allowed.

The action plan for UT Lakshadweep includes outsourcing of technology for the production of high-value Katsobushi, made out of Skipjack tuna; improvement in the quality and marketing of masmin; promotion of a yellowfin tuna fishery by introducing monofilament long liners; and the development of bait fisheries.

Meanwhile, India has an active coastal tuna fishery. It produced approximately 64,000 tons in 2006, which accounted for five percent of the nation's total marine fish landings.

Dr. N.G.K. Pillai, director of Kochi's Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, in a paper published recently, estimated that annual average coastal and neritic tuna landings along the mainland from 19942006 were 47,573 tons. Fully 50% of the volume was caught in fisheries in the southwest, followed by 24% from the southeast, 18% in the northwest, and 8% in the west.

"Among tunas, E. affinis was the most dominant species, forming 48% of the catch," he reported, "followed by Auxis ssp. (25%), thunnus tonggol (10%), Katsuwonus pelamis (5%) and other species (12%) were t. albacares, sarda orientalis and Gymnosarda unicolor."

Drift gill nets are the catching gear of choice among coastal fishermen. Also utilized are purse seines, hook and line methods, long line, pole and line and troll line operations.

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Until recently, pointed out Dr. Pillai, tuna fishing was not pursued seriously by anglers who perceived the returns as inadequate. Part of this situation, he added, was due to the fact that the tuna catch was not of sashimi grade (which requires immediate freezing at -60[degrees]C), for which the fishing vessels lacked onboard/onshore infrastructure facility, and also because tuna is less preferred in the domestic marketplace.

"In this context," concluded the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute Director, "the initiative by MPEDA to develop a fleet of long liners for oceanic tuna fishing--with appropriate market linkages, so that it becomes an economically viable proposal for fishermen/entrepreneurs who wish to venture for tuna fishing--is commendable and yielding good results. This in turn will also ease the fishing pressure on coastal fishery resources and the conflicts between the various fishing sectors in India to a great extent."

Meanwhile, consumers around the world can get ready for the launch of a wide ranging assortment of new value added tuna items from India that will go well beyond sashimi-grade products. Already, exporters have introduced Tuna Yaki Tori, which is popular in Japan. Look for breaded Tuna Nuggets and Tuna Rolls next. Can Tuna Tikka, then, be far behind?

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Kochi King in Export Value, Pipavav is Tops in Tonnage