Fisheries & Aquaculture

A tropical country like India is blessed with highly diverse marine fishery resources in its 2.02 million square kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone, with an annual harvestable potential of about 4.4 million metric tonnes. The coastline of peninsular India runs over 9 states and 2 Union Territories (UT) and is bound by the Arabian Sea in the west and Bay of Bengal in the east. The western coastal states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala and the eastern coastal states are Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. The UTs which have sea-line running along their borders are Daman & Diu and Puducherry. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands are separated from the peninsular Indiaand contributes significantly to the marine fisheries. The Indian marine fisheries sector provides livelihood to nearly 4.0 million people and contributes to export earnings of the country to the tune of 30,000/- crores annually. In the year 2016, it has been estimated the marine fish landings for peninsular India as 3.63 million tonnes which has witnessed an increase of 6.6% compared to 2015. West coast contributed a major share of 64% to the total landings. The northwest region has the maximum quantity with 11.8 lakh tonnes of landings (33%). The south-west region follows the northwest with 11.1 lakh tonnes (31%). The south-east region and north-east region contributed 9.4 lakh tonnes (26%) and 4.0 lakh tonnes (10%) respectively. In marine fish production, Gujarat remained as the major producer followed by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Pelagic resources contributed 52% to the total landings of the country with major share of Indian mackerel, oil sardine and ribbonfish. Demersal finfish constitute 29% in which threadfin breams, croakers and Priacanthus spp. were found as the major groups. The share of crustacean landings was assessed at 12% of the total landings and that of molluscan resources at only 7% where squids and cuttlefishes got the maximum share. Indian mackerel have been placed in the top spot of the major resources obtained from Indian waters in 2016 with an estimate of 2.5 lakh tonnes. For the first time since 1999, oil sardine was not ranked the top species in terms of catch as it fell below Indian mackerel. Since 2013, oil sardine landings continued to show a decreasing trend, with an estimate of 2.45 lakh tonnes in 2016. The anchovies landing in the year 2016 is estimated to be 1.42 lakh tonnes.