The Central team members interacting with Minister Kollu Ravindra during their visit to Machilipatnam on Sunday.
There is a need to set up a varsity in Machilipatnam where researchers can study aquaculture practices, work on identifying rare species of seafish and protect them from extinction, said Machilipatnam MLA and Minister for Mines and Geology Kollu Ravindra.
He was speaking to reporters after the Minister, along with a Central team, visited the Gilakaladindi fishing harbour near Machilipatnam in Krishna district. The team, as part of their State-wide tour under the GEF-8 project titled ‘Transforming A.P. into Sustainable, Reduced Footprint and Climate Resilient Food System’, came to Krishna district on August 11, Sunday, to inspect the fishing harbour here and know about the issues.
The tour was organised under the auspices of Food And Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, which is a partner agency for Global Environmental Facility (GEF) that supports developing countries’ work to address the world’s most pressing environmental issues.
During the tour, besides stressing the need for setting up a varsity here, the Minister said awareness has to be raised among people about the importance of mangroves.
“Mangroves act as a shield during calamities and protect the coastal areas. Destruction of the mangrove forests has to be stopped immediately,” he said.
The Minister also told the team that Andhra Pradesh has acquired the top position in the country in aquaculture production, but there is a need for technical support in the sector. Significant progress in the sector can be achieved if modern, international and new technologies are adopted, he said.
‘Mothership concept’
Noting that fishermen incur huge losses due to the long time taken in returning to the shore after catching fish, the Minister said the concept of motherships has to be introduced. As per the Marine Products Export Development Authority, motherships were the vessels where the fish could be stored and preserved. These vessels also transport fish to the port.
After interacting with the aqua farmers, the team met Krishna Collector D.K. Balaji at the Collectorate and discussed the issues they identified during the tour.
