Dhamra Port donates solar fish dryer for Odisha fishermen

Odisha Sun Times Business Bureau
Dhamra, July 18 :

A solar fish dryer with advanced technology of drying all variety of fishes was donated today by Dhamra Port in Odisha’s Bhadrak district for the use of the fisherman community living in the port periphery.

CEO, Dhamra Port, Santosh Kumar Mohapatra inaugurated the machine installed in the premises of Dhamra Fishing Harbour in the presence of special land acquisition officer, Dhamra Port , Bhadrak Suvendrera Kumar Routray.

The Manager of Management Society, Dhamra Fishing Harbour Anup Sahu, representative of Dhamra Fishermen’s Association Ashok Jena, along with several fishermen of the locality, were present on the occasion.

The solar fish dryer was formally handed over by DPCL to the Management Society, Dhamra Fishing Harbour, Dhamra.

The machine was donated by DPCL as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities for the welfare of the fishing community in the port periphery.

Secretary of Maa Dhamrai Fisherman Association Prafulla Kumar Jena had requested Dhamra Port for facilitating the solar dry fishing technology for the large number of fishermen in Dhamra, Kaninali and Chandinipal areas in the vicinity of the port whose main business is dry fishing.

The solar fish dryer has a capacity of drying 50 kgs of fish on an average duration of 8 hours against the traditional fish drying process of average 48 hours. This would reduce the time duration of fish drying, as well as ensure hygiene and quality compared to fish dried in the open ground under sun. Another major advantage of the solar fish dryer is that it can continue the drying process during the rainy season also through electricity.

DPCL sources informed that some of the local fishermen and members of the Dhamra Fishing Association were trained on operating the fish dryer. The local fishermen would use the machine under their supervision.