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September, 2006 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India |
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A Clean Sweep.
Tsunami washes away Andhra fishing industry.
The monster wave that rocked the southern India last week has washed the Andhra coastline clean of all fishing activity. The coast from Nellore to Vizag has reported extensive damage of fishing equipment and boats, which have been rendered useless. The estimate accounts for a loss of fishing boats, nets, lines and other equipment worth Rs500- 600 million.
On the day when the killer wave struck, the Vizag harbour lost catch worth RS10 million alone. Seafood Exporters Association of India Secretary general Raghunath Reddy told a leading newspaper,” we feel that fishing has taken a heavy toll in the wake of the waves. Nearly 10% of the aquaculture ponds could have been affected by water seepage. These ponds, which have been harvested recently, may require some correction and maneuvering before they are ready to be used again
The fisherman who fish using fishing tools may not be able to venture in the sea for the next four- five days. The region, which consists of 500 fishing villages will also loss of wages for poor fishermen, rendered helpless in such a scenario.
The association is holding talks with the commissioner of fisheries ad trying to get an assessment of the entire damage. Exporters of prawns and shrimps, by the way aquaculture are not expected to suffer a severe damage.
Out of the countries total seafood exports 25-30% comes from the coastlines in Andhra. The region is also a major player in shrimp exports. There are about 2,500 fishing trawlers in the state of which 35- 40% are merchandised while the remaining are small fishing boats. The state also produces around 0.2 million tones of fishery whereas, the government plans to take it up to 2 million tones by 2020.
Date: 29-Dec-2004
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