Bhubaneswar: Brackish water aquaculture in the state has witnessed a growth of 747 per cent in the last 10 years with a commensurate increase in the value of seafood exports from the coastal state, an official said Friday.
This was revealed at a high-level meeting held on digital mode under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.
Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (F&ARD) Secretary R Raghu Prasad said that there has been a significant growth in the sector over the last 10 years.
“The production of brackish water fish increased from 11,460 MT in 2011-12 to 97,125 MT in 2020-21, marking a record growth of 747.51 per cent. Similarly, the area under brackish water aquaculture also increased from 5,860 hectare to 17,780 hectare during the period,” Prasad said.
Despite the Covid-induced economic slowdown, seafood exports from Odisha increased from Rs 801 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 3,107 crore in 2020-21. The quantum of exports in 2011-12 was around 21,311 MT which rose to 60,718 MT in 2020-21, he said.
Prasad said that Odisha’s seafood has caught the global market more particularly in Japan, China, USA, European Union, South East Asia and Middle East. “There is a greater potential of brackish aquaculture in the government as well as private land in Odisha. The sector also can attract more private investments,” he said.
Reviewing the progress, the Chief Secretary directed the departments concerned and Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) to work out a dynamic and facilitating policy for taping the available potential of brackish water aquaculture in the state.
Idco was directed to identify potential land in different districts and develop a land bank for the purpose in close coordination with Fisheries department officers and respective Collectors. Mahapatra also directed Idco to identify land in clusters and develop the facilities like saline water drainage, road and power connectivity for building aquaculture parks. The F&ARD officials operating at different levels were asked to drive the programme in a proactive manner.
Forest and Environment Additional Chief Secretary Mona Sharma advised the officials to identify the land patches for brackish water aquaculture keeping in mind the Coastal Regulation Zone and Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act norms so as to avoid any possible embarrassment to the farmers.
He directed the officials to tap the potentials in the sector by bringing in the self-help groups, primary fishermen cooperative societies, women cooperatives, educated unemployed enterprising youths, partnership farms and state owned cooperatives on a commercial basis.
Review showed that around 2,000 applications for brackish water aquaculture were recently submitted to different tehsils in Balasore, Bhardak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam.
Mahapatra directed the district administrations concerned to take quick action on the proposals as per the existing provisions.
Brackish water aquaculture is the cultivation of aquatic organisms where the end product is raised in brackish water including estuaries, coves, bays and lagoons in which the salinity may lie or generally fluctuate between 0.5 per-mile and full strength seawater.