WinterSchool

ICAR-CMFRI -Winter School on “Recent Development in Taxonomic Techniques of Marine Fishes for Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Management”- Jan 03-23, 2022 at CMFRI, Kochi-Manual ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- submitted Comparability Finding Application (CFA) of US NOAA successfully on 25.11.2021 in order to fulfil the conditions of US-MMPA. The end of exemption period will be 31 December 2022. Non-compliance of MMPA will affect the export of sea caught materials to US worth Rs. 3000 crores per annum from 1 January 2023. C. USA Seafood Import Monitoring Programme (SIMP) The US authorities established a risk based Traceability programme from 1st January 2018 under which exporters have to furnish the traceability records of the seafood exported from India to the Importers On Record (IOR) in US. Currently, 17 species are listed under the SIMP, of which 9 species are exported from India (including Shrimp, Tuna etc). US SIMP covers the traceability of the materials exported to USA both aquaculture and sea caught. The shrimp farm enrolment programme of MPEDA provides the traceability details required by SIMP for farmed shrimp. D. Illegal Unreported And Unregulated(IUU) Fishing- EU Regulation 1005/2008 EC Regulation No. 1005/2008 dated 29th September 2008 insist to prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU), fishing. To comply with the EU regulation, Catch Certificate is a mandatory export document for the export of all wild caught fishery products to European Union. Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Government of India has notified MPEDA as the nodal agency to validate catch certificates from 2010. MPEDA developed an online catch certificate system for the validation of catch certificates to exporters. In the catch certificate system, 100 No of Harbour data collectors (HDC) are engaged for collection and entering of fishing vessel landing details in real time basis from major fishing harbour/landing centre in all maritime states of India. Catch certificates to exporters are issued from an exclusive portal called C-catch portal (https://c-cert.mpeda.gov.in). E. Detection of WSSV, IMNV & IHHNV in shrimp consignments exported from India Biosecurity issues acts as a trade barrier in seafood trade. Detection of WSSV in shrimps exported to countries like Australia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Canada will result in the rejection of export consignments. Detection of IMNV in farmed shrimp has resulted in suspension of farmed shrimp exports to Thailand by Thai authorities. Recently China has came up with the detection of White spot syndrome viruses (WSSV) and Infectious Hypodermal Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHHNV) in the frozen shrimp consignments which are exported to China. China suspended exports from 18 exporters. By addressing the bio-security issues, India can capture 50% market in these countries which is USD 4.6 billion. 600

ICAR-CMFRI -Winter School on “Recent Development in Taxonomic Techniques of Marine Fishes for Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Management”- Jan 03-23, 2022 at CMFRI, Kochi-Manual ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Shrimp trade and issues related to Antibiotic residue (I) European Union (i) Increased sampling frequency for inspection of Indian farmed shrimps: EU has increased sampling frequency from 10% to 50% for farmed shrimp to test antibiotic residues since October 2016. The higher rate of sampling of 50% is a trade barrier for export of aquaculture shrimps from India and is still continuing. (ii) Addition of new fishery establishments which are handling Aquaculture products: Based on our requests in various bilateral meetings including the 13th SPS - TBT Joint Working Group held in July 2020, 57 new units and 5 de-listed units have been permitted to export sea caught items since November 2020. More than 15 seafood processing units qualified for approval and recommended by the Export Inspection Council of India (EIC) for aquaculture products / Fish meal, are awaiting listing by the EU to export fish & Fishery products to the member countries. These units have invested heavily in setting up units that meet the EU norms and the EU market is being denied to them. (II) Japan (i) Compulsory inspection of Indian farmed Shrimps: Farmed shrimp exports to Japan are subjected to 100% inspection by Japanese health authorities for Nitrofuran metabolite, AOZ (antibiotic residue). There has been no detection of AOZ in Black Tiger shrimp since 2013. In early March 2020, an inspection team from Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare, Japan visited Black Tiger shrimp farms, hatcheries and processing sites in India. Subsequently, Japanese Government has decided to lift the Inspection Order for Black Tiger among Indian cultured shrimp and its processed products. In continuation Japan health authorities has withdrawn import inspection of farmed Indian black tiger shrimp for banned antibiotics since December 2020. However, the 100% inspection continues for vannamei shrimp imports as there is continued detection of Nitrofuran metabolites (AOZ) in the consignments G. Lack of sustainable certification programme for sea caught materials Certification of fishery to promote sustainable practices in the areas of capture and culture fisheries will support the increased access to international market. As a first step, Fishery Improvement Programme (FIP) such as reduction in juvenile fish catch by use of square mesh cod end in trawl fishery, TEDs etc need to be implemented in all major fisheries in the country. Certification of fishery can be used as an extension of the normal monitoring, conservation and enforcement activities for reducing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Certification also ensures the hygienic handling of fishes, job security and betterment of fisher’s livelihood in the future. Fishery in India is complex and it involves multi-species fishing, therefore selection of a single species in a fishery for certification is challenging. The factors such as high cost of certification, requirement for improved record keeping and management 601

ICAR-CMFRI -Winter School on “Recent Development in Taxonomic Techniques of Marine Fishes for Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Management”- Jan 03-23, 2022 at CMFRI, Kochi-Manual ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- are discouraging factors for certification from small scale fishers/farmers in the country. H. Actions required from Research Institutions on the trade issues 1) Sustainable Fishery Certification and IUU a) A model sustainable certification programme suitable for Indian marine capture fishery may be developed and demonstrated. b) Innovations in recording, monitoring and reporting the catch on board using latest technological solutions c) Research to develop indigenous two-way communication equipment with latest technologies for the Vessel monitoring system (VMS) and ISAT Phone for safety of fishermen as well as meeting the traceability requirements. d) Juvenile fishing- CMFRI has already come up with Minimum Legal Size (MLS) for certain States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The study should be conducted in remaining maritime states to recommend the MLS for different species. 2) Marine Mammal and Turtle conservation a) Bring out a status paper on trawl, gillnet, long line and purse seine fishery of India and impact of these fishing methods on the marine mammal and turtle population in Indian EEZ with recommendations to concerned state Fisheries departments and DoF, Govt. of India for overcoming the impact. b) Organise a marine mammal stock assessment programme in collaboration with all the institutions concerned c) Carry out the gear wise mitigation studies to prevent the by-catch especially of Turtles and Marine Mammals. 3) Antibiotic Residues & Biosecurity issues in farmed shrimp a) Bring a status paper on antibiotic residue and bio security issues in shrimp production and its impact on seafood export from India and concrete recommendations in compliance with OIE, codex, or importing countries requirements in these areas. b) As shrimp is a major item for commercial aquaculture and export earnings, research need to be concentrated on production and processing sector of shrimp to address the A & B issues, suitable technological interventions for production of disease free crop viz. real time crop monitoring through ICT technologies, artifical intelligence etc may be focused. c) Models for disease free area/ Zone/ region for shrimp production in the country also need to be demonstrated by the scientific community to the farmers to emulate the same in different areas for production of quality shrimp in compliance with OIE guidelines. 602