World Aquaculture Magazine - March 2021

WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2021 51 refused to purchase at this rate. The ICAR-Central Institutes of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) has conducted a survey to understand the impact of COVID-19 on shrimp farming. The survey found that shrimp farming has resulted in reduced seafood export performance and farmed shrimp production, increased seed and input cost, reduced market price, increased unemployment, reduced farmed area, increased the unwillingness of farmers toward farming and caused economic losses to hatcheries (Kumaran et al. 2020). Processing . In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, processing plants have faced various challenges such as labor shortages, poor quality and inadequate quantity of rawmaterial, non-availability of bigger size shrimps, lack of export orders and inadequate storage capacity. Shutdowns of processing plants and shortages of wild- caught seafood during the lockdown period are also expected to hit exports of seafood from India (Krishnakumar 2020b). The productivity levels of some shrimp processing plants have dropped  to a third or a fifth  of their usual capacity. Operation of processing plants have already been hampered because of their dependence on  migrant workers , which constitute up to 50 percent of the workforce in  Andhra Pradesh (Undercurrent News 2020b). Many migrant workers returned to their home states when the lockdown was announced and they are unable to return to their workplaces again because of ongoing restrictions on movement. The lack of a workforce has shattered the attempts of owners to reopen processing plants (Jigeesh 2020). International andNationalMarkets. International and national markets have been getting worse during the lockdown in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. The pandemic has cut off the various channels of the supply and value chains of fish and fisheries products (FAO 2020e). In India, the majority of fish markets are unregulated. Because of improper infrastructure and poor communications facilities, domestic and foreign markets were disrupted. Exports from India have also been affected because of the COVID-19 situation. Demand for frozen shrimp has plummeted in the United States and Europe since their own lockdowns, which accounts for 70 percent of India’s seafood export earnings (Krishnakumar 2020a). Exacerbating the situation, when China reopened for imports in March 2020, a  shortage of workers  at processing plants made it impossible to process the rawmaterial (Harkell and Gibson 2020). The export market is on standby and because of this the entire fishing sector, along with its allied sectors, are also influenced antagonistically. In the initial phase of lockdown from 25 March 2020, fish traders have not been allowed to procure fish, which has led to a major decline in fish export marketing. Apart from that, many major fishing harbors of the country remained completely shut down and thereby all the major activities in those harbors have been abandoned (Fig. 2). In the case of small fishing harbors, only fishers are permitted to enter harbors and then for no more than half an hour. In the case of the domestic market, women fish vendors and fishing laborers are most affected by the lockdown because, in some places, fishing activities have ceased or are restricted. The low catches are subject to high demand and customers have likewise observed and anticipate a lower price for fish. As a result, their incomes have plummeted and they are confronting difficulties in meeting their families’ expenditures. The supply chain is profoundly disrupted and workers involved in ancillary occupations are now unemployed. The daily loss is anywhere between US$ 6.75 to US$ 26.90 per person (MSSRF 2020). Policies to Support Fisheries Sectors Policymakers are dealing with the vulnerabilities encompassing the effects of COVID-19 on food supply, demand, trade and identifying the most appropriate measures to ensure that the pandemic does not become a food crisis (FAO 2020d). In fact, disease outbreaks can affect supply and demand through various channels. It can lead to a decrease in the labor force, including seasonal and migrant workers (Gunjal and Senahoun 2016), affecting pond preparation, breeding, fish stock maintenance, harvesting, marketing and also having an effect on employment in labor-intensive industries (FAO and UNAIDS 2003). Subsequently, it also can impact household incomes and food security (United Nations 2004). The dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic are not like other crises in recent history, such as the 2007-2008 food-price crisis, the Ebola epidemic inWest Africa in 2014, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in East Asia in 2003, HIV/AIDS in Africa from the 1990s and 2000s, plague in South Asia in 1994 and cholera in Latin America in 1991. The policy responses available to governments to respond to actual or perceived disruptions within the agri-food markets are similar to those taken during previous crises (Sharma 2011). In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, a robust policy response is required to manage disruptions to small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, processing plants and fish markets. Experiences from the study of different policy measures, necessary policymaking decisions may be adopted by the government in this challenging time of COVID-19 to protect the fisheries sectors. Any policy decision taken by governments should be compatible with international trade rules and to national commitments. The FAO (2020d) has provided policy objectives, types of policy responses and suggestions to strengthen fisheries sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic (Table 1). ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 5 2 ) FIGURE 2. Lockdown condition of fishing harbors and landing centers in India.