Production of ice and it's extent of utilisation by fishery industry of Ratnagiri

This paper attempts to explore the production of ice and it's extent of utilization in fishery industry of Ratnagiri. It was observed that the all categories of fishing vessels and marketing personnel were using ice regularly for preservation of fish by procuring ice from 19 ice plants situated in Ratnagiri block. The total production capacity of all the ice plants was 2,01,491 tonnes, but the total ice utilization by the fishery industry of Ratnagiri block during the year 2007–08 was 97,046 tonnes which indicated under-utilisation (48%) of the present production capacity of ice plants. The expected ice requirement for the fisheries industry of Ratnagiri block is estimated at 1,57,377 tonnes. The existing ice plants are with appropriate production capacity to suffice the present requirement of the fishery industry of Ratnagiri block.