Local fisher groups in Kerala have set an example by taking efforts to reduce fuel emissions in fishing boats by moving to natural gas, said Sagar Mehra, Union joint secretary, fisheries. Similar initiatives are being adopted in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu by fishermen associations,” he said while speaking at a brainstorming session on ‘greening the fisheries sector’ on the sidelines of the international symposium on innovations in fishing technologies held in Kochi.
He said that the Centre is committed to greening India’s marine fisheries sector. “In terms of global greenhouse gas emission, India’s fishing sector has a low impact. However, the country will mobilize support to transform the sector and tackle the environmental issues,” he added. The session saw experts stating that the sea-level rise was alarming for the sector and technological innovations were needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Mehra said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Panchamrit (five promises) aims to increase the non-fossil energy usage to 500 GW by 2030 and ensure that 50% of the energy requirements come from renewable energy.
Policymakers, experts and senior government officials from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Thailand besides industry players from across the world attended the brainstorming session. “In order to achieve de-carbonisation in the fisheries sector, the fishing ecosystem as a whole should be taken into account, instead of limiting to fishing fuel,” said Commodore Debesh Lahiri, executive director of the National Maritime Foundation (NMF).
Attended by around 250 participants from 30 countries, the five-day symposium organized by the BOBP-IGO, the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and national fisheries institutions, concluded on Friday.