India International Seafood Show in Vizag from Sept 23

The biennial India International Seafood Show (IISS) will open in the port city of Visakhapatnam on September 23, as the country is headed for a "blue revolution" to boost aquaculture production and increase export of marine products by 20 per cent in the current fiscal.
Diversification in aquaculture, value addition, improved production infrastructure and adoption of new technologies are some of the key strategies that India will adopt as part of blue revolution that will also give a thrust to the 'Make in India' campaign in shrimp seed production.
The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) under the Union Commerce Ministry is organising the three-day event in association with the Seafood Exporters Association of India.

'Safe and Sustainable Indian Aquaculture' is the theme of the show, where technological advances and sustainable practices followed in fisheries capture and culture to ensure quality of seafood for both domestic and export markets, will be showcased.
While aquaculture will be in spotlight at the IISS 2016, the show will also focus on new technologies, production infrastructure and value-added products.
Last year, India's marine produce exports stood at 4.7 billion USD and the MPEDA targeted to increase it to 5.6 billion USD in 2016-17.

"Aquaculture is a very significant area for marine exports as far as India is concerned and our efforts are geared towards greater technology inputs and product diversification in this area," MPEDA Chairman Dr A Jayathilak said.

The USA and South East Asia were the major importers of
Indian seafood while frozen shrimp continued to be the major export item last year, followed by frozen fish.
With countries like Vietnam and Thailand giving stiff competition, small and marginal farmers, who contributed to the bulk of coastal aquaculture in India, are organising to stave off competition by boosting production and adopting global standard marketing strategies such as certification, traceability and eco-labelling, according to Jayathilak.
The MPEDA is actively supporting shrimp culture through cluster farming approach.
More than 10,000 farmers have been organised into aqua-societies that implement better management practices.

The aqua-societies also help the farmers access credit, quality seeds, feeds and other inputs, reducing the burden of diseases and improving product quality.
The USA, the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Vietnam, the Netherlands, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Germany and China are some of the countries that will participate in IISS.