Supply Chain Management of Sea Foods In Tamilnadu

Abstract

Seafood is the world s major source of wild protein. Seafood is a highly perishable food that should be handled with care. India is the second largest seafood producing country in the world with the current estimated seafood production of 9.58 million metric tonnes. Presently seafood has emerged as the largest group in agricultural exports of India. The sectors exports products aggregated to 10.51 lakh tonnes in volume valued at Rs. 33, newline441.61 crore in 2014-15. More than 50 different types of seafood products are exported to 75 countries around the world. Because of the economic importance of the industry, several disputes have developed over fishing rights. Increasingly concerns about overfishing, pollution, and declining fish catches have forced governments to permit measures designed to protect and conserve this resource. Many problems are still prevailing in the sea food supply chain. Inefficient supply chain, More market participants, Uncertainty in demand and supply, Unstable market situations and heterogeneity, Lack of infrastructure, disempowered fishers, unhygienic practices, perishable nature of the product, quality deterioration, high cost on storage and transportation are some of the problems. The study is done with the following objectives, i.e., to study the existing seafood supply chain management in Tamilnadu, to probe the availability of seafood varieties and their demand, to analyze the sustainability of certain fish species and wastages in different stages of the supply chain, to cram the availability of infrastructure facilities throughout the supply chain, to examine the supply chain problems faced by the stakeholders in the supply chain, to offer valuable suggestions based on the findings of the study and is concluded that there is no proper organized form of supply chain in the sea foods sector. Multistage sampling method is used and the respondents are fishermen, intermediaries and the exporting companies. Various intermediaries like auctioneer, commission agents, retailers