Shrimps account for the biggest share of fish exports from India 34 per cent in quantity and 67 per cent in dollar earnings over the previous year.
Seafood exports from the country during the 2014-2015 fiscal registered an all-time high in terms of quantity, rupee value, and U.S. dollar earnings at 6.86 per cent, 10.69 per cent, and 10.05 per respectively over the previous year, Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) statistics say.
Shrimps account for the biggest share of exports 34 per cent in quantity and 67 per cent in US dollar earnings over the previous year. But it was the cultured exotic vannamei shrimp, which contributed the lion’s share of the shrimp export growth both in quantity and value.
Kerala-based exporters say the waters here are fast getting barren and if it had not been for the vannamei , many seafood exporting companies would have closed down.
Shrimps account for more than double the quantity of harvests from the sea, and arrive at seafood companies across the State through road from various States.
In the past, the vannamei shrimp was unheard of even among seafood exporters in Kerala. The foreign exchange in millions of US dollars earned by the seafood industry of the State came primarily from endemic varieties karikadi (marine shrimp), tiger prawns, bamboo shrimp and naaran (white shrimp), harvested from the Kerala waters.
Seafood exporters of the State say if things are what it was in the past, this year’s export earnings from white shrimp could have easily touched Rs.200 crore. But the harvest this year is not even 10 per cent of what it used to be earlier hinting at white shrimps becoming a highly threatened species in Kerala waters.
The exporters say even though boats are now returning with huge harvests of karikadi to the Kollam harbours, these are not as sought-after as monsoon-grade karikadi is. Monsoon-grade karikadi is exported to Japan and other Far East countries.
The karikadi harvested now have no export value since they are small in size. The export-grade ones can be harvested during June-July but during that time, the trawling ban is in force.
The bamboo shrimp used to fetch export earnings ranging from Rs.40 crore to Rs.50 crore annually. The shrimp, a delicacy in European countries, is found only in the waters from Thiruvananthapuram to Kayamkulam and then in the Tunisian waters. It can be harvested only by trawling during the night. But this shrimp is hardly seen now. The same is the fate of tiger prawns.
2015, The Hindu