deep-sea fishing
He also stressed the need for specialised training in deep-sea fishing to enable fishermen to tap marine resources along Gujarat’s 2,380-km coastline. Union fisheries minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh said Gujarat had been issued more than 4,000 access passes, allowing fishermen to operate in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), between 12 and 200 nautical miles from the coast. Of the 14 letters of authorization issued nationally for high-seas fishing, three were granted to Gujarat, he said.
Chief minister Bhupendra Patel said govt was ready to provide land and cold-storage facilities if fishermen and cooperative societies came forward to jointly develop the required infrastructure. Singh said tuna and other high-value fish presented significant opportunities for the state, but added that fishing needed to be integrated with modern processing, cold chains, packaging, value addition and branding to maximise returns. Gandhinagar : Gujarat is looking to expand its presence in deep-sea and high-seas fishing, with the state govt offering infrastructure support and Centre facilitating greater access to high-value marine resources, officials said at a national workshop in Gandhinagar on Thursday.