The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and the Cochin Port Trust have entered into a pact to modernise Kerala’s busiest fisheries harbour at Thoppumpady at a cost of ₹140 crore.
MPEDA chairman K.S. Srinivas and CPT chairperson Dr. M. Beena signed the memorandum, said the MPEDA in a communication here.
The ₹140-crore project will be implemented through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), being floated now. The SPV would mobilise resources from various Central government schemes, it said.
The fisheries harbour modernisation project is the biggest in the State so far and aims to substantially enhance the unit value realised from wild catch as well as minimise post-harvest losses. The MPEDA said that the harbour was the hub of about 250-tonne fish landings on an average daily.
A major source of high value fish for seafood processors in both Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts, it was the operational base for more than 600 gillnet-longline vessels, 80 purseiners and around 300 trawl boats, said M. Majeed, general secretary of Gillnet-Longline Boat Owners’ and Traders’ Association.
He welcomed the development and said: “Modernisation of the fisheries harbour has been one of our long-standing demands.”
The Cochin Port Trust runs the harbour now. Built on 27 acres of port land, the harbour was established in 1978.
The new features will include air-conditioned auction halls, an effluent treatment plant, a retail market, fish-dressing unit and net-mending area along with offices and dormitories.
Mr. Srinivas said the MPEDA had proposed modernisation of 25 fishing harbours across the country.