Odisha Bags Two National Fisheries Awards

Bhubaneswar: Odisha received two prestigious national level fisheries awards on the occasion of ‘World Fisheries Day’ at an event organised in New Delhi on Saturday.

The state bagged the “Best Marine State” award, while Kalahandi received the “Best District” award in inland fisheries sector.

The awards were presented by Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh in presence of Minister of State Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in presence of dignitaries from Central government.

R Raghu Prasad, commissioner-cum-secretary, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development department, received the award on behalf of the state government and Sashikant Acharya, deputy director of Fisheries for Kalahandi district.

While the ‘Best Marine State’ award carries a financial incentive of Rs 10 lakh, the ‘Best District’ award has a financial incentive of Rs 3 lakh.

Congratulating the Fisheries & Animal Resources Development department and Kalahandi district administration for receiving the awards, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a message stated that Odisha is committed to be a pioneer state in fish production to ensure food security and boost livelihood.

The fisheries and aquaculture sector in the state grew at a rate of 18.98% and produced around 8.16 lakh ton of fish during 2019-20. The average annual growth rate of the fish production over last 5 years is over 14%.

The seafood exports from the state has increased by 78% in the last 5 years from Rs 1817 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 3243 crore in 2019-20. Currently the state exports over 66,000 tons of sea food, majority of which is frozen shrimp.