New Delhi, Jun 25 (KNN) Sustainable development is key to increasing the competitiveness in the fisheries sector and reducing post-harvest losses in fisheries to less than 10 per cent is extremely important, said Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary, Department of Fisheries.

Speaking at FICCI webinar on ‘Developing Competitiveness in Fisheries Sector’, Ranjan said, “Per capita consumption in India is substantially low in fisheries compared to global levels. Therefore, development of the domestic market and increasing per capita consumption needs a focused approach.”

''Investment in fishing harbours, value addition and promotion of Mariculture will boost the sector,'' he added.

Speaking on the same, Venkat R Nekkanti, Managing Director, Nekkanti Sea Food, said, that the country has set an ambitious fish production target of 22mn MT by 2025 which signifies adding 10mn MT in the next 5 years.

''On the demand side, it is imperative to widen the domestic consumption base with a strong thrust on value-added products,'' he added.

He also stressed that we took 35 years to add the last 10mn MT production and it is time to do meticulous planning.

 “Sustainable practices coupled with emphasis on Fishtech & requisite infrastructure augmentation along with domestic market development is the key to boost the fisheries sector.” said Shashikant Singh, Director, Agriculture & Natural Resources, GRID, PwC. 

Highlighting the need to promote sustainable models in this sector, Devleena Bhattacharjee, Founder & CEO, Numer8 Analytics said, “Development of efficient supply-chain, controlling wastages and building strong traceability mechanism in partnership with private sector, is crucial for future growth of fisheries sector.”

She further asserted that sustainable fishing practices should be promoted and subsidies should be awarded to farmers adhering to sustainable fishing methods.