The Fisheries Department has begun promoting resource specific fishing and identified open sea cage culture, as it claims to have opened up avenues to encourage Goan entrepreneurs to take up aqua farming. India is moving towards a blue revolution with an envisioned target of an estimated 5 million tonne increase in fish production by 2020. The Department is promoting resource specific fishing like tuna’ and have identified open sea cage culture’ as an ideal avenue in aquaculture, Fisheries Director Shamila Monteiro said at a seminar on Export Potential of Marine Products hosted by the World Trade Centre, Goa. She urged the community to take benefit of the schemes available, for instance, financial assistance is available for cold storages, ice plants and a beneficiary can get up to Rs 50 lakh for a 40 tonne ice plant. The event that explored the umpteen opportunities available to Goan entrepreneurs shed light on staggering growth figures the industry has seen over the past years. WTC Mumbai advisor A O Kuruwila spoke of the current export scenario stating that Indian sea food exports touched an all time high in 2016-2017. Apart from being the second largest aquaculture producer in the world, India exports the largest amount of shrimps to the USA, followed by the EU. The South East Asia countries are other booming markets. Such is the growth potential for marine exports in India and Goa being a coastal belt, the horizon is limitless, he added. Offering an on ground realistic picture of the aquaculture scenario in Goa, CEO of the Brakish Water Fish Farmers Development Agency Cedric Gomes spoke of the many issues that plagued the farmers. He identified availability of land, diseased seed imported and demarcation of the high tide line as some problems areas.