Government Implements Measures to Promote Sustainable Fishing Practices Across India

The subject matter of ‘Fisheries’ within the territorial waters of 12 nautical miles from the sea coast falls under the ‘Entry 21’ of the ‘State list’, under Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Based on the ‘model bill’ circulated by the Union Government in 1979, the coastal states/Union Territories (UTs) have enacted their Marine Fishing Regulation Act (MFRA) for regulation and management of fisheries within their territorial waters. The Government of India has notified the ‘National Policy on Marine Fisheries (NPMF), 2017’ with aim to keep sustainability of the resources at the core of all actions. The potential of fishery resources are estimated by Expert Committee constituted by Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India at regular intervals to ascertain the status of fish stocks and revalidation of potential of fishery resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). As per the latest report of the Expert Committee for Revalidation of Potential Fishery Resources (2018) the annual potential yield (PY) of marine fishery resources in the Indian EEZ is estimated at 5.31 million tones. Against this potential, the marine fish landing during 2022-23 was recorded at 4.43 million tonnes, which is well within the annual harvestable potential. The Government of India has also taken several steps to increase the fish stocks and to ensure sustainable fisheries, such as implementation of 61 days uniform fishing ban during monsoon season in the EEZ, ban on destructive fishing methods viz. pair trawling or bull trawling and use of artificial LED lights in fishing, discouraging juvenile fishing and promotion of sea ranching, installation of Artificial Reefs, mariculture activities including seaweed cultivation etc. Besides, the coastal States/UTs are also implementing the conservation and management measures such as gear-mesh size and engine power regulations, minimum legal size (MLS) of fish, zonation of fishing areas for different categories of fishing vessels, etc. As a result, it is observed as per the latest study undertaken by the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in 2022 that, the marine fish stocks of the Indian waters are in good health and 91.1% of the 135 fish stocks evaluated in different regions were found sustainable.