Clams may turn out to be Kerala's new marine gold

KOCHI: Clam exports from India are set to bag premium prices, with the fishery in Ashtamudi estuary in Kerala becoming the first in the country to get the certification of the global body Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for sustainable fishing. The certification is much valued due to increasing awareness of sustainable fishing, particularly in Europe.

“Clam prices had dropped from $2.05 per kg to $1.9 recently. MSC certification will help get better prices for Ashtamudi short neck clams now,“ said Leena Nair, chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority .

India exports about 784 tonne of clams annually, of which 500 tonne come from this small estuary in Kerala. The rest is harvested from Vembanad estuary, which is also located in Kerala.

The sustainable practices made the fishery a prime candidate for MSC certification. World Wildlife FundIndia collaborated with Kerala State Fisheries Department and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute along with the local fishers for nearly four years for getting the certification.

“We used get Rs 40-50 per kg for deshelled clam meat. It has now improved to Rs 100. With MSC certification, we expect to get Rs 400 500 per kg and we can now export it directly to Europe. Earlier, it used to get re-exported from Thailand or Indonesia,“ said Joshy Joseph, clam agent and a fisherman. There are 3,000 fishermen associated with clam fishing near Ashtamudi estuary . They get additional income from clam shells which are used to make paint.

According to David Agnew, MSC standards director, who was present at the function to give the certification, it is the world's most rigorous, science-based standard for sustainable seafood. The Ashtamudi estuary is the third fishery resource in Asia after Vietnam and Maldives to get certification. Globally, 244 fishery resources in 35 countries have been certified. The growth of Ashtamudi's commercial fishery was driven by demand from Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia in the 1980s and 1990s. It peaked to 10,000 tonne a year by 1991, but shrank 50% within a couple of years due to overfishing.

A three-month fishing ban during spawning season, restrictions on mesh size and prohibition of mechanical clam fishing helped sustain the fishery resource. Now the annual production is 10,000 tonne.

Hem Pande, additional secretary of MoEF, and Ravi Singh, secretary general and CEO of WWF-India, who attended the function, said they would like to consider Chilka lake and oil sardines for MSC certification.