MPEDA

MPEDA was set up by an act of Parliament during 1972. The erstwhile Marine Products Export Promotion Council established by the Government of India in September 1961 was converged in to MPEDA on 24th August 1972. MPEDA is given the mandate to promote the marine products industry with special reference to exports from the country. It is envisaged that this organisation would take all actions to develop and augment the resources required for promoting the exports of “all varieties of fishery products known commercially as shrimp, prawn, lobster, crab, fish, shell-fish, other aquatic animals or plants or part thereof and any other products which the authority may, by notification in the Gazette of India, declare to be marine products for the purposes of (the) Act”. The Act empowers MPEDA to regulate exports of marine products and take all measures required for ensuring sustained, quality seafood exports from the country. MPEDA is given the authority to prescribe for itself any matters which the future might require for protecting and augmenting the seafood exports from the country. It is also empowered to carry out inspection of marine products, its raw material, fixing standards, specifications, and training as well as take all necessary steps for marketing the seafood overseas.

MPEDA is the nodal agency for the holistic development of seafood industry in India to realise its full export potential as a nodal agency. Based on the recommendations of MPEDA, Government of India notified new standards for fishing vessels, storage premises, processing plants and conveyances. MPEDA’s focus is mainly on Market Promotion, Capture Fisheries, Culture Fisheries, Processing Infrastructure & Value addition, Quality Control, Research and Development.