The seafood sector in Kerala, one of the key seafood producing states in India, has been severely impacted as strict measures to curb the COVID-19 outbreak have hit fishing and processing activities, The Hindu reported on 28 July.
Fishing ports and many processing factories in several districts, including Alappuzha, have been closed while raw material from other states could not be transported to be processed in Kerala, president of the Kerala chapter of the Indian Seafood Exporters Association Alex K. Nainan was quoted as saying.
Processors have failed to deliver export orders for the March-April season. The same situation is expected for the coming season due to severe restrictions to contain the outbreak of the deadly virus.
As the spread of the coronavirus got worse, the State Fisheries Department has imposed restrictions on activities in several coastal areas, ranging from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi. All fishing operations in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, and Ernakulam have been suspended due to the pandemic.
Owners of fishing boats in Kerala are hoping the annual trawling ban, which is about to come to an end on 31 July, will result in more catch output of shrimp. However, labor shortage for the fishing sector due to travel restriction measures will remain a hurdle for any fishing plans.
“The restrictions on workers from other States operating in boats launched from Kerala centres is one of the reasons that will see reduced fishing activities, especially for shrimp catch,” Joseph Xavier Kalapurakkal, an official from the Boat Operators Association, said.
As part of the measures in place, workers from other states must present a COVID-negative certificate to be permitted to work in Kerala. For example, in Kerala about 20,000 fishers coming from the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu are being quarantined at present. Boat owners were facing heavy expenses as they still have to hire workers during the trawling ban, Kalapurakkal said.
As of 27 July, Kerala had 19,727 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 64 deaths. The state government has not imposed a total lockdown, but will strengthen restriction measures in affected areas to control the rising spread, the Hindustan Times reported.
Kerala’s marine fish production dropped by 15.4 percent to 544,000 metric tons (MT) in 2019, with declines seen in the landings of oil sardine and Indian mackerel, its two key resources. The output of oil sardine dived to 43,320 MT, the lowest level in 20 years, while the Indian mackerel decreased 50 percent year-on-year to 40,554 MT, according to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) earlier this month.
Photo courtesy of Elena Odareeva/Shutterstock
