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Indian trawlers line Myanmar coast

Our Bureau

KOCHI, Dec. 8

THE Indian deep sea fishing industry's foray into foreign waters initiated two years ago is poised for further expansion and consolidation.

This follows the successful venture by some Indian companies into the deep sea lobster beds, off the coast of Myanmar, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has reported.

During the last two years, even though the returns on lobster operations off the coast of Myanmar had registered a fall in terms of volume and profits, MPEDA said that the Indian ventures were keen on expanding the scale of their operations in these wate rs.

Expanding its presence in the international waters, Suvarna Reka Marines, a Visakhapatnam-based player in the Indian deep sea fishing sector, had now added a new dimension by sending a few of its trawlers to Indonesia in September, MPEDA pointed out. Thi s company was credited with taking the lead in launching the Myanmar operations.

Initial reports had indicated that the company had notched up an impressive gains in terms of a different type of lobster in addition to frequent shrimp catches off the Indonesian coast. Depending on the success of this operation, some more trawlers were expected to head for Indonesia in the coming months.

In the Myanmar coast, even though the lobster catches were coming down, the industry was keen on consolidating its base and getting into shrimp production. The withdrawal of all Thai trawlers from the Myanmar coast after the two countries broke up their diplomatic ties about a year ago is the major catalyst spurring more Indian companies into these waters.

In the light of the industry's plans to expand its foreign fishing operations, some representatives had renewed their plea to the Finance Ministry to withdraw import duty on marine products brought from the foreign waters to Visakhapatanam for export.

Ever since it began the Myanmar operations, the industry had encountered the import duty obstacle, as it had to bring the lobsters fished off the Myanmar coast to Visakhapatanam for value addition and export.

The prime reason for the Indian industry to pursue its foreign fishing operations is due to the sharp decline in catches along the Indian coast. The latest reports show that shrimp catches off the East coast have plummeted to as low as 50 kg to 70 kg per trawler per day, while the standard level of break even is as much as 100 kg. per day.

The venture into foreign waters and firm price trends in international markets have ensured the profitability and sustainability of the Indian industry.