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Essay on Blue Revolution in India
Essay Contents:
- Essay on Introduction to Blue Revolution
- Essay on the Economical Benefits of Blue Revolution
- Essay on the Research and Training of Blue Revolution
- Essay on the Programmes of Blue Revolution
- Essay on the Major Harbours of Blue Revolution
- Essay on the Restrictions of Blue Revolution
- Essay on the Institutes of Blue Revolution
- Essay on the Highlights of Blue Revolution
Essay # 1. Introduction to Blue Revolution:
In the 1960s, India made headlines with its Green Revolution, using high-yielding varieties and improved technology to more than double its output of wheat between 1965 and 1972. Today, India is pushing ahead with a Blue Revolution, the rapid increase of fish production in small ponds and water bodies, a boon to small farmers, the nation’s nutrition and its gross domestic product.
Fish production has increased more than fivefold since India’s independence and is a major industry in the coastal states.
It rose from only 800,000 tonnes in the year 1950 to 4.1 million tonnes in the early 1990s. Special efforts have been made to promote extensive and intensive inland fish farming, modernize coastal fisheries, and encourage deep-sea fishing through joint ventures. These efforts led to a more them fourfold increase in coastal fish production from 520,000 tonnes in 1950 to 2.4 million tonnes in 1990.
The increase in inland fish production was even more dramatic, increasing almost eightfold from 218,000 tonnes in 1950 to 1.7 million tonnes-in 1990. The value of fish and processed fish exports increased from less than 1 per cent of the total value of exports in 1960 to 3.6 per cent in 1993.
Essay # 2. Economical Benefits
of Blue Revolution:
Great potential exists for expanding the nation’s fishing industry. India’s exclusive economic zone, stretching 200 nautical miles (370 km) into the Indian Ocean, encompasses more than 2 million square kilometers. In the mid-1980s, only about 33 per cent of that area was being exploited.
The potential annual catch from the area has been estimated at 4.5 million tonnes. In addition to this marine zone, India has about 14,000 km2 of brackish water available for aquaculture, of which only 600 km2 were being farmed in the early 1990s; about 16,000 km2 of freshwater lakes, ponds, and swamps; and nearly 64,000 kilometers of rivers and streams.
In 1990, there were 1.7 million full-time fishermen, 1.3 million part-time fishermen, and 2.3 million occasional fishermen, many of whom worked as salt makers, ferrymen, or seamen, or operated boats for hire. In the early 1990s, the fishing fleet consisted of 180,000 traditional craft powered by sails or oars, 26,000 motorized traditional craft, and some 34,000 mechanized boats.
Essay # 3. Research and Training
of Blue Revolution:
Fisheries research and training institutions are supported by central and state governments that deserve much of the credit for the expansion and improvements in the Indian fishing industry. The principal fisheries research institutions, all of which operate under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, are the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute at Kochi (formerly Cochin), Kerala; the Central Inland Fisheries Institute at Barrackpore, West Bengal; and the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology at Willingdon Island near Kochi.
Most fishery training is provided by the Central Institute for Fishery Education in Mumbai, which has ancillary institutions in Barrackpore, Agra (Uttar Pradesh), and Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh). The Central Fisheries Corporation in Kolkata is instrumental in bringing about improvements in fishing methods, ice production, processing, storing, marketing, and constructing and repairing fishing vessels.
Operating under a 1972 law, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), headquartered in Kochi, has made several market surveys abroad and has been instrumental in introducing and enforcing hygiene standards that have gained for Indian fishery export products a reputation for cleanliness and quality.
Essay # 4. Programmes
of Blue Revolution:
The implementation of two programs for inland fisheries establishing fish farmers’ development agencies and the National Programme of Fish Seed Development has led to encouragingly increased production, which reached 1.5 million tonnes during 1990, up from 0.9 million tonnes in 1984. A network of 313 fish farmers’ development agencies was functioning in 1992.
Under the National Programme of Fish Seed Development, forty fish- seed hatcheries were commissioned. Fish-seed production doubled from 5 billion fry in 1983 to 10 billion fry in 1989. A new programme using organic waste for aquaculture was started in 1986. Inland fish production as a per cent of total fish production increased from 36 per cent in 1980 to 40 per cent by 1990.
Essay # 5. Major Harbours
of Blue Revolution:
Apart from four main fishing harbours-Mangalore (Karnataka), Kochi (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), and Roychowk in Kolkata (West Bengal); twenty-three minor fishing harbours and ninety-five fish-landing centers are designated to provide landing and berthing facilities to fishing craft. The harbours at Vishakhapatnam, Kochi, and Roychowk were completed by 1980; the one at Chennai was completed in the 1980s.
A major fishing harbour was under construction at Sassoon Dock in Mumbai in the early 1990s, as were thirteen additional minor fishing harbours and eighteen small landing centers. By early 1990, there were 225 deep-sea fishing vessels operating in India’s exclusive economic zone. Of these, 165 were owned by Indian shipping companies, and the rest were chartered foreign fishing vessels.
The government provides subsidies to poor fishermen so that they can motorize their traditional craft to increase the range and frequency of operation, with a consequent increase in the catch and earnings. A total of about 26,171 traditional craft had been motorized under the program by 1992.
Essay # 6. Restrictions
of Blue Revolution:
The banning of trawling by chartered foreign vessels and the speedy motorization of traditional fishing craft in the 1980s led to a quantum jump in marine fish production in the late 1980s. The export of marine products rose from 97,179 tonnes (Rs. 531 billion) in 1987 to 210,800 tonnes (Rs. 17.4 trillion) in 1992, making India one of the world’s leading seafood exporting nations.
This achievement was largely a result of significant advancements in India’s freezing facilities since the 1960s, advancements that enabled India’s seafood products to meet international standards. Frozen shrimp, a high-value item, has become the dominant seafood export. Other significant export items are frozen frog legs, frozen lobster tails, dried fish, and shark fins, much of which is exported to seafood-loving Japan. During the eighth plan, marine products were identified as having major export potential.
Essay # 7. Institutes
of Blue Revolution:
There are several specialized institutes that train fishermen. The Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Training in Juhu instruct operators of deep-sea fishing vessels and technicians for shore establishments. It has facilities in Chennai and Vishakhapatnam for about 500 trainees a year.
An Institute named “Fisheries Institute of Technology and Training” (FITT) has been established with the participation of TATAs in Tamil Nadu, to impart world class training facility to fishers and thereby improving the socio-economic condition of fishers. The Integrated Fisheries Project, also headquartered in Kochi, was established for the processing, popularizing, and marketing of unusual fish.
Another training organization, the Central Institute of Coastal Engineering for Fisheries in Bangalore, has done techno-economic feasibility studies on locations of fishing harbour sites and brackish-water fish farms. There are 14 Fisheries colleges functioning in various states of the country, providing Professional Fisheries education with a view of developing Professionalism in the field of Fisheries. The College of Fisheries, Panangad, College of Fisheries, and Mangalore etc. are some to name.
To improve returns to fishermen and provide better products for consumers, several states have organized marketing cooperatives for fishermen. Nevertheless, most traditional fishermen rely on household members or local fish merchants for the disposal of their catches. In some places, marketing is carried on entirely by fisherwomen who carry small quantities in containers on their heads to nearby places. Good wholesale or retail markets are rare.
Essay # 8. Highlights of Blue Revolution
:
i. Blue Revolution has been attained by enhancing fish production from 0.75 million m t in 1951 to 5.4 million m t in 1997. India has emerged as the second largest fish producing country in the world in freshwater aquaculture.
ii. Phenomenal growth of marine products export.
iii. Indigenous design of fishing craft and gears.
iv. Developed national standards for fish inspection and quality control.
v. Nutritional evaluation of major fish species and fishery products.
vi. Created national collection centre for characterization and storage of important marine microorganisms.
vii. Developed value-added fishery products for export market.
viii. Technology development of Retortable Pouch Process as a substitute for canning fish.
ix. Commercial production of chitin and chitosan from shrimp head and shell.
x. Hatchery technology for shrimp.
xi. Semi-intensive shrimp farming.
xii. Fattening of lobsters and crabs.
xiii. Artificial feed for shrimp farming.
xiv. Technology package for brood stock management, production of fingerlings and grow-out systems for major finfish, shellfish and molluscs.
xv. Culture and utilization of sea weeds.
xvi. Technology package for mass culture of 1 species of micro-algae.
xvii. Production of ornamental fish under hatchery conditions.
xviii. Breeding of sea bass under controlled conditions.
xix. Commercial production of cultured pearls from pearl oysters.
xx. Induced breeding of major carps, catfishes and other fin fishes.
xxi. Production of freshwater pearls.
xxii. Development of vaccines and formulation of drugs for fish diseases.
xxiii. Genetically improved, rohu, CIFAIR-I.
xxiv. Commercialization of fish feeds for inland aquaculture.
xxv. Production of mahseer and snow-trout in hatcheries.
xxvi. Conservation of endangered species.
xxvii. Cryopreservation of milts of consumable important fish species.
xxviii. Enhanced fish productivity of reservoirs.