MUMBAI, Sept. 1 -- Beginning August 27, a 50 percent tariff on Indian frozen seafood exports to the US, the world's largest seafood market, has cast a long shadow over a sector that has thrived for generations. At Sassoon Dock in Mumbai, one of Maharashtra's busiest and largest seafood-exporting hubs, the air is thick with anxiety despite the usual bustle of unloading, catches, auctioning and processing seafood. The industry here, which has sustained countless families for decades, now faces a future clouded by uncertainty. The fishing industry in Sassoon Dock is already facing a threat of extinction due to the Mumbai Port Authority's leasing out of godowns for other commercial purposes, a subject that has consistently been reported by Hindustan Times. US president Donald Trump's tariff has pushed the industry further into stress. Until early August 2025, frozen seafood from India faced a 10% duty in the US. The Trump administration raised it first to 25% from August 7 and now to a staggering 50%. Exporters and auctioneers warn that this sharp increase could dismantle what has long been a lucrative trade. "If the Indian government doesn't find a solution to the tariff, exporters will not value fishermen," said Vasant Bhuchade, president of the Marine Products Auctioneers Association. "Traders and exporters will ask for a cheaper rate during auctions, and fishermen, who usually earn good money from prawns, will then not bother going into the water for prawns. The cascading effect will even rob the women who shell prawns of their income. Prawns are the mainstay of our fishing activity, and this tariff will put the entire industry in danger." Exporters will suffer under the tariff hike since the US and China are their primary markets. The consequences are expected to cascade down the supply chain from exporters to fishermen, aquaculture farmers, and even prawn shellers. With exporters likely to pass on the burden of increased tariffs, those on the ground stand to lose the most. Krishna Pawle, president of the Shiv Bharatiya Port Trust Sena, voiced his concerns. "In the last 25 years, prawn prices have remained stable due to steady aquaculture practices," he said. "Sea prawn rates hover around Rs.300 per kilo, depending on the size. Now, with the 50% tariff, exporters may force the price down to Rs.250 or even Rs.225 per kilo. This will directly hit fishermen, just like falling prices have devastated farmers in other sectors." Pawle added that a single trawler fishing trip of eight to ten days cost nearly Rs.4 lakh, factoring in diesel, ice and labour. "If prawn prices fall, the economics just don't add up," he said. "Fishermen will stop going for prawns, and this will cripple not just fishing but also prawn-shelling units. It will cause massive unemployment." By some estimates, Sassoon Dock exports roughly 30 tonnes of prawn daily for nearly 300 days a year, with each kilogram priced around Rs.300, a significant contributor to the local economy. In the two-month monsoon fishing ban, the industry already slows down. There are over 12,000 prawns peelers in Sassoon Dock in Colaba. For workers like Jayashree N, who has been shelling prawns for the last two decades, the ripple effects of the tariff are already deeply worrying. "I work from 7 am to 7pm and earn Rs.600 a day. This is my only livelihood," she said. "If exporters start paying less, fishermen will stop catching prawns, and we won't have any work. It's a chain reaction and we're at the bottom of it."...