Business Standard / New Delhi August 22, 2008, 0:02 IST For many years, India's fishery exports (the largest component in the broad category of agro-exports) have had an unhealthy dependence on shrimp. So it is good news that this dependence is now reducing, the export basket diversifies. Also reducing is the dependence on the two principal markets (Japan and the United States), as other markets are being tapped. While these are positive developments, it cannot unfortunately be claimed that the woes of the marine fisheries sector are over. There has for years been a near stagnation in output, and deceleration in the growth of seafood exports. Even the growing domestic demand for fish and fish products is being met increasingly from inland fisheries. The export trends of the past five years reveal that the share of shrimps in total seafood shipments has declined from 65 per cent to 52 per cent in value terms, and from 32 per cent to 25 per cent in quantitative terms. Shrimps have yielded ground to other marine products like frozen finfish and cuttlefish, whose share in exports has expanded. However, squids have not done too well despite their good potential. The narrow seafood export kitty