Blue revolution refers to increasing the production of aquatic organisms like fishes, Cretaceous, mollusks, aquatic organisms by promoting aquaculture. It includes all types of aquatic systems like ocean, back water, pond, lake, river etc. In this context, India started the Blue Revolution here on the occasion of World Fisheries Day.
It is necessary to write here that India is second in the world in fish production. By producing fish on such a large scale, India is not only meeting its domestic food requirements but is also making efforts to promote foreign exports. Although there are many problems in the field of fish production in India-
Here the average annual production is very low. This leads to insufficient fish production and India is not able to take advantage of optimum development opportunities in this sector. Due to lack of infrastructure for fish production and processing, due to lack of value addition of fish products in India, we are not able to join the global value chain.
In the absence of transport facilities, transportation of fish products is not ensured properly. This increases the cost. Apart from this, due to lack of cold storage, fish products are not preserved for a long time. There is a lack of economic and market policy such as market and price policies related to fish products.
Ancient technical and traditional fishing equipment is still used in India for fish production. Apart from this, overfishing is also a big problem. This also creates the problem of environmental pollution. Apart from this, the farmers doing aquaculture lack information related to fisheries and there is not enough land for this. Not only is there a lack of government efforts to encourage the fisheries sector, at the same time less attention is paid to this sector.
Although there are enough problems in this area, but after resolving them, this sector can prove to be a provider of huge benefits. For this the following strategies can be adopted-
To promote fishing, the government first needs to do adequate research and development in this direction. Apart from this, aquaculture farmers now need to be encouraged to use new technology in place of traditional techniques in fish production.
Along with fishing, production of aquatic fauna and aquatic flora should also be encouraged. Infrastructural development such as adequate transportation facility, cold storage, processing facility and market diversification should be done. Apart from this, adequate technology will also have to be developed to take proper advantage of the by-products generated from fishing.
Along with promoting intergovernmental cooperation in this area, there is also a need to give government incentives. The government should also provide good fish seed and good fish nutritious food to the aquatic farmers. In this direction, provisions like comprehensive fishing policy and insurance in this area will have to be implemented. The Government of India is also implementing several policies to give adequate expansion to the fishing industry. The government has constituted the National Fisheries Development Board. Along with this, a fund has also been created for fishing. Apart from this, a provision has also been made to give KCC to the farmers doing fish farming.