World Fisheries Day 2020: Andhra CM Reddy will inaugurate aqua bazaars and aqua hub in Vizag

On World Fisheries Daytoday (21 November),Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will inaugurate aqua bazaars and aqua hub project at Visakhapatnam. Along with that, he will also lay the foundation stone at four fishing harbours at Juvvala Dinne in Nellore, Uppada in East Godavari district, Nizampatnam in Guntur district and Machilipatnam in Krishna district.  

K Phani Prakash, Joint director fisheries said, “November 21 is celebrated as World Fisheries Day. On that day, our chief minister will inaugurate the project.” 

Now, these fish markets are going to be referred to as ‘aqua bazaars’ in rural areas while a hub-and-spoke model would be adopted in urban areas. Aqua hubs will come up in big cities from where produce would be distributed to retail shops. 

Although Andhra Pradesh has the second-longest coastline of about 974km within the country, the previous government allegedly neglected the maritime activity and established only small fishing harbours.  

Through the new fishing harbours, it is expected that an additional 2.37 lakh tonnes of fish and prawn’s worth nearly Rs 500 crore will be added as GVA (Gross Value Addition) to the State and 85,000 direct and indirect employment will be generated. 

Aqua bazaars and outlets will essentially have four parts: a live fish section, ice fish and prawn section, frozen section and a dressing section to wash, cut and pack. 

“Despite being one among the most important fish and prawn producing states in India, almost all our produce is exported globally. Fish consumption in Andhra Pradesh is very low. This project is supposed to increase the rate of fish consumption in the state and use the state’s fish and produce within the state more,” said Seediri Appalaraju State fisheries minister.  

A senior fisheries department official said that the state has started forming Fish Farmers Producers Organizations (FFPOs) under the MACS Act of 1995 or Companies Act of 2013. These FFPOs would be of three types: marketing, pre-processing and processing; and can look out of the availability chain. 

Fish and other kinds of seafood are rich in nutrients and recommended for consumption to improve immunity. Further, to make sure optimum remunerative price for the aqua farmers, the aqua hubs, which can be managed by Aqua Farmers Societies, are going to be interlinked with the proposed Janata Bazaars.