'Need to grow fish without fish meal'

There is a need to intensify efforts to grow fish without fish meal to avoid depletion of marine fish resources in India, said Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Sciences University vice-chancellor R N Srinivasa Gowda.

Inaugurating the international symposium on "Sustainable Fisheries Development for Food and Healthy Security" on Wednesday at the College of Fisheries, Mangalore, Gowda said it has been estimated that to grow one kg of fish, 5 kg of fish are used as fishmeal.

Every eight out of 20 fish species like sardines and mackerels are used as fishmeal. About 1/3 of fish meal is used in production of feed in aquaculture and 2/3 are used in poultry and piggeries thereby resulting in depletion of resources of fish.

Hence there is a need to focus on aquaculture of species that do not depend on fishmeal.

On the food safety issues of residues of veterinary drugs in fishery products, he said that the European Union's Rapid Alert for Food and Feeds showed that in 2006, there has been several complaints relating to Indian seafood.

Residues of drugs were found in fish, which could be attributed to misuse of drugs in other sector. Hence, he said that there is a need to create awareness about misuse of antibiotics in all sectors including aquaculture.

"Food standards must be based on scientific principles based on proper assessment of risk associated with micro- organisms and chemicals," he added.

He said that there is a need to have a system for certification of fish stock for sustainability as many international buyers now insists on purchasing fish from only certified stock.

He said that the fisheries sector contributes Rs 11 crore to the national Income which is 1.4 per cent of GDP and India is the fourth largest fish producer and second biggest fresh water fish producer after China.

Fisheries accounts for Rs 6,700 crore of annual exports which is about 20 per cent of the catch.