The first edition of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Newsletter “Matsya Sampada” was published by the Department of Fisheries, Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India. The issue was released by Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh.
The Operational Guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana was also released in the same event. Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of state for fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Dr. Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary, Department of Fisheries and other senior officials were also present during the launch.
The newsletter will be published quarterly and will inform the fish farmers of the new innovations of the fisheries sector. The Minister said that the newsletter will serve as an important tool of communication between the government, private sector and the farmers and will provide all the information regarding the initiatives of the Central Government.
It will facilitate the stakeholders like fishers, fish farmers, youth and entrepreneurs across the country and assist them in expanding their business and also encouraged he initiatives.
The operational guidelines of the PMMSY were also released by the minister and he said that the launch of PMMSY was a historical moment for the fisheries and aquaculture sector. He said that the scheme will diversify the fisheries value chain and would take the fisheries and aquaculture sector and steer it to the next level. He also lauded the Department of Fisheries for launching the operational guidelines is a very short period of time and said that it should be quickly implemented in the States and Union Territories.
The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY was launched by the Union Government for sustainable and responsible development of fisheries sector. The budget allocated for the scheme was Rs.20050 crore. It covers under it an array of 100 diverse activities. The government hopes to achieve an additional fish production of 70 lakh tons, Rs. one lakh crore of exports, generation of 55 lakh employment over the next five years
