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Falling returns from trawling off Myanmar

Our Bureau

VISAKHAPATNAM, March 24

FISHING off Myanmar coast for high-value lobsters by the Indian deep sea fishing industry, which was started last year as part of its efforts to seek out new foreign fishing grounds, appears to be losing its sheen. This comes in the wake of too many traw lers from India landing up at Myanmar, resulting in less catches and declining profits.

Industry sources told Business Line that this development had prompted the industry to think in terms of introducing a ``self-discipline code'', which, among other things, would seek to reduce the fleet of Indian trawlers currently engaged in the fishing operations off Myanmar.

The sources said most trawlers that left for Myanmar early January this year had reported a drastic fall in catch per trawler. While the first batch of trawlers that began fishing off Myanmar coast last year reported a catch of an average of 15 tonnes pe r vessel, this time it was as low as between four and two tonnes per vessel.

As a matter of fact, it was the Visakhapatnam-based Suvarna Rekha Marines which first ventured to extend its fishing operations beyond Indian waters early last year. When there was a talk that the lobster-operations off Myanmar coast were proving to be s uccessful for the company, others despatched their trawlers and soon the Myanmar coast began to get crowded with Indian vessels.

The sources said this year the ``lobster-race'' off Myanmar was joined by more number of Indian trawlers, resulting in the declining trend. Some of them were even reported to have already returned to their base at Visakhapatnam even before the Myanmar op erations could actually pick up.

This development has prompted the industry to introduce a code to regulate the Myanmar operations. As the first step, the Indian fleet currently operating off Myanmar is being pared down _ already it has come down to 25 from a peak of 40 trawlers.

``Companies which have two or more trawlers there are being asked to bring back one or more,'' an industry source said.

The development has also prompted the industry to look for new foreign fishing grounds. The sources said a few companies might launch a ``Myanmar-type operation'' off another foreign coast to fish for certain ``high-value species'' during the next two mo nths.

In the current fiscal, lobsters from Myanmar (which were exported through Visakhapatnam) contributed hardly Rs. 12 crores to the total value of marine product exports from the Visakhapatnam port, which included shrimps from the aquaculture sector and oth er marine products.

According to sources, the total marine product exports from Visakhapatnam might just touch the Rs. 900-crore mark, against the target of Rs. 1,000 crores set by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) for the current fiscal. In terms of quantity, the exports have so far crossed 21,000 tonnes up to February, against the target of 26,000 tonnes for the whole year.