Gujarat's seafood industry exports frozen items to the US, European, Gulf and East and North Asian countries. But this season, 25 of the total 75 seafood processing and export units in Veraval have remained shut. The scenario at Porbandar is worse with only two of the seven units managing to survive. But they are running to only one-tenth of their total capacity.

The ongoing season has been termed as the worst in the history of this over 50-year-old industry. Jinney Marketing, a seafood processing and export house in Junagadh, is running at only 25 per cent of its total capacity.

“There's been an acute shortage of raw materials — fish and lobsters. I find it quite difficult to keep the machines going even when almost three months are left for the fishing season to come to an end,” lamented owner Kenny Thomas. He added, “Depleting raw material volume has brought down the export revenue.”

Last year, raw material available to the industry was to the tune of 140,000 tonnes. But this year, it has come down by 30 per cent. The units, directly or indirectly, employ around 75,000 people, including fishermen, unit workers and labourers. And with the shutters down on many of them, several thousands have been rendered jobless. Even the turnover is expected to hit a record low this season. Last year, it was to the tune of Rs 700 crore — 30 per cent of the total seafood export turnover of the country.

Until recently, the state's coasts were very rich and the fishermen always got a prize catch with many varieties of fish such as silver pomfret, black pomfret, cuttlefish, eel, ghol, ribbonfish, croaker, hilsa, kati and snappers and even commercial catches such as rock lobster, sand lobster and shrimps.

“In Gujarat, which has got the longest coastline in the country, the marine catches dwindled alarmingly, so much so that many species like red snapper, sand lobster, eel, kati, banana white shrimps have almost become extinct,” said Tajbudeen Sultan, a member of the executive committee of Marine Products Export Production Body of India.

In the past two years, in the absence of commercially viable fishes, the industry has shifted its focus to other fish items such as ribbonfish, croaker and Japanese thread fin bream. “But these varieties have also registered a phenomenal depletion in the last six months,” said Sultan said.

Like processors and exporters, fishermen are also at the receiving end. “It's a seasonal business covering only nine months in a year — September to June. And the reduction in marine catches in recent times has left fishermen in the lurch,” said Manish Lodhari, president of Gujarat Fishing Boat Association. He added: “The slump is casting its net wide, affecting fishermen, boat owners, processors and exporters — nearly one crore people on the coastal belt of Gujarat.”

According to those involved with the industry, the reason for the decline is both natural and manmade. “Global warming, migration and inadequate rainfall during monsoon, which is the main breeding period, has caused much harm,” said Thomas