Dwindling marine catch along India’s coast

Scientific study by Indian Council of Agriculture Research- Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute(ICAR-CMFRI) revealed that status of marine fish stock of the Indian waters are healthy and 91.1% of the 135 fish stocks in different regions evaluated were found sustainable.

The Department of Fisheries, Government of India (DoF, GoI) is taking several steps under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) towards providing financial assistance to fishers, which includes livelihood and nutritional support for socio-economically backward fishers, and also Group Accident Insurance Scheme coverage for fishers. Under the PMMSY, financial assistance is also provided to traditional fishers for acquisition of deep-sea fishing vessels, upgradation of existing fishing vessels for export competence, procurement of boats and nets by traditional fishers for better catch, communication and tracking devices and safety kits to ensure safety of fishermen at sea. To improve the value realization to fishers, financial support is provided under PMMSY for development of post-harvest and cold chain facilities, fish transport, fisheries infrastructures like fish market, value added enterprise units and such other activities. The DoF, GoI is taking several steps towards conservation and sustainable development of marine fisheries resources such as establishment of artificial reefs and conduct of sea ranching, implementation of uniform season fishing ban for 61 days during monsoon which is the breeding season for fishes in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of India, ban on pair or bull trawling, ban on use of LED or artificial light in fishing in the EEZ area etc. Advisories are issued to States/UTs to take measures to prevent juvenile fishing such as implementation of mesh size regulations and minimum legal size of fish under their Marine Fishing Regulation Acts (MFRAs) to ensure sustainable and responsible fishing practices.