Fisheries Infrastructure Development: Centre Urges States to Speed Up

New Delhi, Dec 26 (PTI) The state governments should speed up infrastructure development in the fisheries sector with technical support of National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Union Minister Parshottam Rupala said on Tuesday.

Rupala, who is in charge of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, asked the Haryana and Maharashtra governments to take technical support of NFDB for establishing fish markets for better domestic marketing.

Addressing the 10th governing body meeting of NFDB at Visakhapatnam, the minister stressed on the importance of fish meal production, which has high demand in the export market, an official statement said.

"Policy needs to be worked out for exploring the possibility of developing infrastructure for fish meal, deep sea fishing, boats, traditional processing units, seed requirement, etc, on a neutral mode," he said.

The minister also reviewed the progress of the Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour project sanctioned under a central sector with an outlay of Rs 151.81 crore under a convergence mode.

Rupala interacted with fishermen's associations and advised them to coordinate with Port Trust to identify the areas/components required at fishing harbours.

Andhra Pradesh Fisheries Minister Seediri Appalaraju and central government officials were also present in the meeting.