ICAR-CMFRI organises Stakeholder Meets

28^th November, 2018, Kochi

With an aim to gather inputs from various stakeholders in marine fisheries sector over the recently formulated draft National Mariculture Policy, the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) organised six workshops across the coastal states of the country. During this, five stakeholder meets were organised in Veraval, Visakhapatnam, Karwar, Mandapam and Chennai Regional Research Centres of the ICAR-CMFRI, followed by the final meet at the CMFRI Headquarters in Kochi.

To collect the inputs from stakeholders in Gujarat and Maharashtra, the stakeholders’ meet for North West Coast was organized in the Veraval Research Centre of ICAR-CMFRI on 27^th November - 2018.

Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal regions held the meeting at Visakhapatnam Regional Centre on 14^th November - 2018.

The Karwar Research Centre of the Institute hosted the meet for the stakeholders from Karnataka and Goa on 24^th November - 2018.

The Mandapam Regional Centre and Madras Regional Centre of ICAR-CMFRI organized the stakeholder meet on 28^th November and 3^rd December - 2018, respectively.

The sixth and final stakeholder meet was organized at the Headquarters of the Institute in Kochi on 15^th December - 2018.

During the meeting, scores of suggestions over various provisions in the draft policy were proposed. The major outcome of the meeting was the decision to recognize mariculture on par with agriculture for enjoying all financial benefits from the governments and banking sectors.

The meetings registered the participation by representatives of fishermen, fish farmers, seafood exporters, hatchery owners, entrepreneurs, NGOs, State Fisheries Departments, etc.

(Source: ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi)