Kochi, Jun 19 (IANS): In a major attempt to boost seafood export from India, the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) will provide technical support for strengthening the sustainable harvest of 11 selected shrimp and cephalopod trawl fishery resources in Kerala.

The request to CMFRI for this came from the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), and an MoU was signed to this effect on Monday between the two.

Consequent to this, CMFRI will carry out a consultancy research project aimed at assessing the stock health and fishery performance of 'kiddi' (karikadi) shrimp, flower tail (poovalan) shrimp, red ring deep sea shrimp, nylon shrimp, deep sea non-penaid shrimp, squid, cuttlefish, octopus, ribbon fish and two species of threadfin breams.

CMFRI Director A. Gopalakrishnan said that with seafood consumers globally shifting towards making informed, healthy and sustainable choices, it becomes critical that seafood originates from sustainable fisheries.

"Improved management programmes will enable the marine fisheries sector to gain increased access to seafood markets worldwide," said Gopalakrishnan.

The project will focus on the application of appropriate models tailored to the life-history patterns of the selected species, and the strengthening of the existing database.