The government of Tamil Nadu, India, has signed an agreement with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) intended to benefit India’s fisheries sector.
Under the agreement, Austrade and the Tamil Nadu government will increase cooperation in the development and extension of the local fisheries and aquaculture sector in Tamil Nadu, in India’s southeast. Austrade will share best practices so as to enable the adoption of best practices to support sustainability, enhance local production, enable export promotion initiatives, the New Indian Express reported.
The collaborative agreement was signed in Chennai between by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, the state’s fisheries minister, D Jayakumar, and its chief secretary, Girija Vaidyanathan. Australian Commercial Minister and Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Leonie Muldoon and Victoria State Minister for Trade and Investment Philip Dalidakis signed on behalf of their country.
The cooperation with Australia’s Victoria State will include focus on raising awareness on best practices in fisheries and aquaculture management and to work on key areas such as policy, research, equipment, technology, services and skills for the development of fisheries sector, the New Indian Express reported.
At the India International Seafood Show 2018 in Goa in January, the Australian consul-general called on Indian seafood exporters to focus their efforts more on his country, citing a huge demand for Indian shrimp in Australia.
However, Tamil Nadu is far behind other states in seafood export and production compared to other Indian states such as Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Maharashtra. The agreement allows Tamil Nadu to utilize Australian trade resources to market Tamil Nadu’s seafood products globally, including consultancy services and fisheries production technology designed to improve the state’s seafood value-chain.
The tie-up will also enable better and greater exchange of data and information on the development of sustainable fisheries management. Specifically, the partnership will include a collaboration between Tamil Nadu’s Dr. J Jayalalithaa Fisheries University and Australian universities that will include skills training and other educational initiatives designed to improve practices of rural fishing communities.
