Maharashtra plans fish marketing panels

The six places where such centres will be developed are Harne (which is also a port), Dabhol, Jaigad, Sakhri Nate, Mirkarwada and Navanagar. The centres will have modern storage facilities, diesel pumps, ice factories, transportarrangements and a setup for auctioning fish.

The fishing business in Ratnagiri has become a multi-dimensional problem over the years. About 2,400 diesel trawlers and 2,146 boats are being used for fishing in the waters of Ratnagiri district. The annual fish production of the district reaches about 70,000 tonnes which comprises pomphret, prawns, surmai, bangda and other popular types of fish. As the number of trawlers has immensely increased over the years, the fish being caught by each trawler has decreased considerably. Apart from this, the increased rates of diesel and payments to trawler operators have directly affected the earnings of fishermen.

At present, a total of 38 fish landing centres are operating in Ratnagiri but none of them has a diesel pump facility. This adversely affects operation of trawlers which results in less production of fish. Earlier, there were eight fish preservation centres in Ratnagiri. The fisheries department of the State Government used to provide them with salt at aconcessional rate. However, the closing down of these centres later had a severe impact on fish preservation.

The ice factories presently operating in Ratnagiri produce about 286 tonne of ice daily which is much less than the requirement of the fish industry (500 tonne per day). Ice is an important factor for procurement of fish especially prawns which are being exported. The proposed fish landing centres are expected to have major ice factories.

The FMC is also expected to provide adequate mode of transport at the fish landing centres, which is lacking in Ratnagiri and thus affects transportation of fresh fish to major markets in the State.