Karnataka: Export of frozen fish yet to take off from MIA

MANGALURU: The frozen fish export, which started about six years ago and stopped due to passengers complaints of luggage getting damaged due to leakage, has not resumed yet denting the district’s chances of forex earnings through fish export. Though the state government has repeatedly assured of prioritising fish exports by air cargo, negative reponse from carriers has put an to the effort.
According to potential exporters, air carriers have not shown positive intent citing that packing is not foolproof and it damages the aircraft and also passenger luggage. “We are ready to meet all the required criteria, most importantly packaging, and airlines should allow the same,” said one of the stakeholders.
He also mentioned that coastal districts such as Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada have abundant resources and there is high demand for frozen fish in Gulf countries.Currently, only frozen fish is shipped from New Mangalore Port Trust.
Minister for fisheries, ports, and inland water transport S Angara said chilled fish export to the Gulf countries will not be done immediately.
“In the first phase, we will fly frozen fish from Mangaluru to Bengaluru— it may start by December 15. Based on the response, we are planning to export to the Gulf and other countries in the second phase. There are a lot of stakeholders who are ready to export frozen fish,” he added.
K A Sreenivasan, senior manager (cargo), MIA, said frozen fish export is happening in a smooth way in neighbouring states.
“The same can be done in Mangaluru too, as there are foolproof packing options available in the market. The frozen fish export was halted after complaints from airlines that leaked water from container boxes damaging passenger luggage. We are ready to facilitate export provided that airlines agree to it. Currently, on an average, MIA airlifts about five tons of vegetables, fruits and grocery items to Gulf countries,” said Sreenivasan.