BHUBANESWAR: The state government has targeted to export seafood worth Rs 3,000 crore during this financial year. It has adopted a comprehensive fishery policy to generate Rs 10,000 crore by 2020 from seafood exports. The state has witnessed increase in exports from 14,161 metric tonne (MT) in 2007-08 to 35,630 MT in 2015-16. It generated revenue of Rs 347.9 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 1,787.84 crore in 2015-16 with highest Rs 2,069.17 crore during 2014-15 when it exported nearly 15% of its production, official sources said.
Seafood like marine fish, shrimp, crab, squid, octopus and cuttlefish are in high demand in foreign countries. Major markets for Odisha seafood include South East Asia (39%) followed by USA (28%), European Union (11%) and Japan (9%). Official sources said 97.79% of the total value is contributed by frozen shrimp.
One of the major contributors of seafood in state is Chilika Lake. Around 12,137 MT of fish, shrimps and crabs are produced from Chilika annually. These have got high demand in overseas markets as they are natural products, said fisheries and animal resources development secretary Bishnupada Sethi.
He said the government has decided to create necessary infrastructure like air cargo handling at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here to facilitate export of live seafood items to other countries. He discussed with Union secretary for animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries Devendra Chaudhury in New Delhi on Tuesday regarding the air cargo handling. Air cargo facility will give a boost to high value commodities of Chilika and other places. “We can send live fish, crab, shrimp or other seafood to other countries every day,” said Sethi.
