Seafood units, aqua farms struggle to stay afloat

IT'S 7 A.M. on Vypin Island, just off the Kochi coast. The sea breeze still carries a morning chill, but inside the Kalamukku fishing harbour, the bustle is relentless.

- NARAYANAN V

Crates of cuttlefish, threadfin bream, whiteleg shrimp, and baby octopus—stacked in blue and orange—are rushed onto waiting trucks. In a nearby thatched office, fishermen in sweat-soaked T-shirts queue for their wages after 10 grueling days at sea. The atmosphere inside is anything but calm.

"This is what we get after struggling in the sea for 10 days," says 54-year-old Iruthayarajan, holding out ₹5,000 he has just been paid. Among the fisherfolk since the tender age of 12, he now runs a small mechanized boat. "How can one manage a family of four with this?" Iruthayarajan asks.

Iruthayarajan complains that exporters are buying his catch at throwaway prices, even during July-September, the post-monsoon peak season. What he doesn't know is that a tariff tsunami, half a world away in the US, has begun to shake India's $7.38-billion seafood industry—threatening nearly 28 million livelihoods, from aquaculture farmers in Andhra Pradesh to seafood processors and exporters in Kerala, including small-scale fishermen like him.

India's seafood sector has been caught off guard by Washington's decision to double import duties on Indian shipments to 50%. The US, which accounts for 35% of India's seafood exports at $2.8 billion in FY25, had already imposed a 25% levy. When the new duties kick in on August 27, the move could wipe out nearly ₹24,000 crore worth of trade.

"We already have an anti-dumping duty of about 10% on shrimp exports to the US. With these new tariffs and penalties, that will climb to around 60% for shrimp and 50% for other seafood exports," says Abraham John Tharakan, chairman of Kochi-based Amalgam Group of Companies, seafood exporters and aqua feed producers.