Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala on Tuesday stressed the importance of fishmeal production, which is has high demand in international markets. A policy needed to be worked out for exploring the possibility of developing infrastructure for fishmeal production, he added. He underlined the importance of the government’s focus on advanced measures for deep sea fishing, boats, traditional processing units and seed requirements.
Mr. Rupala was in the city to chair the 10th annual general body meeting of National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) at a hotel here. He also reviewed central projects and schemes being implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra. Addressing the meeting, Mr. Rupala said infrastructure development through central schemes with the technical support of the NFDB needed to be sped up by the respective States.
Mr. Rupala also reviewed the progress of the ₹151.81 crore Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour. “The Visakhapatnam fishing harbour project will have to be completed by October 2025,” Mr. Rupala said. Meanwhile, State Minister for Fisheries Seediri Appala Raju suggested a separate scheme for platinum rope for fishing boats. Craft insurance coverage, in addition to the insurance coverage on fishing vessels, will be provided to fisherfolk, he said. Karnataka Minister for Fisheries Mankal S. Vaidya attended the event.