Impact of overfishing by large mechanised fishing operations

There are total 64,414 mechanical fishing vessels in the country as on date. The State-wise numbers of mechanical fishing vessels include Andaman & Nicobar Islands (200), Andhra Pradesh (1,521), Daman & Diu (1,856), Goa (2,822), Gujarat (18,559), Karnataka (4,845), Kerala (3,748), Lakshadweep (17), Maharashtra (20,062), Odisha (1,730), Puducherry (750), Tamil Nadu (5,029), and West Bengal (3,275).

(b):     The total annual fish catch from marine waters over the last five years, year-wise and State-wise details are provided at Annexure, which is largely contributed by the mechanised fishing vessels.

(c):    The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has recently assessed the status of fish stocks of major commercial fish species in the Indian waters. As per the studies on fish stocks by ICAR-CMFRI it is revealed that the stocks are in good health and 91.1% of the 135 fish stocks evaluated in different regions during 2022 were found sustainable.

(d):     The Department of Fisheries, Government of India (DoF, GoI) has been conducting the National Marine Fisheries Census through the prominent R&D institutes such as ICAR-CMFRI and Fishery Survey of India (FSI), from time to time, which aims to have the comprehensive, accurate, and timely data of socio-economic aspects of marine fisheries sector, that are also essential for the sustainable development and governance of the marine fisheries sector, which supports over a million families in the country. The fifth National Marine Fisheries Census 2025 (MFC 2025) is conducted jointly by the DoF, GoI, and the ICAR-CMFRI. This MFC 2025 has been officially launched on the World Fisheries Day on November 21, 2024.

(e):     For sustainable fishing practices and enhancement of the fish stocks and sea safety reasons the uniform ban on fishing for 61 days is implemented annually in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the country beyond territorial waters on both the coasts (i.e., 15th April to 14th June in the East Coast, and 1st June to 31st July in the West Coast). Similarly, the coastal States/UTs are also implementing the fishing ban within their territorial waters in line with the uniform ban implemented in the EEZ by the DoF, GoI. The livelihood and nutritional support for socio-economically backward active traditional fishers during the fishing ban/lean period as well as the group accidental insurance scheme for the active fishers is covered under the PMMSY.

Under the PMMSY, the Government of India has, for the first time, extended support for activities such as sea ranching and installation of Artificial Reefs along the entire coastline of India to prevent habitat destruction, enhancing the fish stocks and supporting livelihood of fishers. The activities such as mariculture including seaweed cultivation and open sea cage culture are promoted under PMMSY to alleviate the fishing pressure in nearshore waters, and boost marine fisheries production in sustainable manner.

The PMMSY also includes a component “Development of 100 Coastal Fishermen Villages as Climate Resilient Coastal Fishermen Villages (CRCFV)”, in various States and UTs, to transform them to economically vibrant fishermen villages by providing support to a basket of activities that includes infrastructure components and economic activities that aid enhancing the resilience of the villages to climate change impacts.

A sub-component namely “Assistance for Deep Sea Fishing” and another component of “Conversion of Trawlers into Resource Specific Deep-Sea Fishing Vessels” were implemented under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) “Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries” to provide financial assistance to traditional fishermen for promotion of resource specific deep-sea fishing. The DoF, GoI had introduced the components namely, “Support for acquisition of Deep-Sea Fishing vessels for traditional fishermen” and “Up-gradation of existing fishing vessels for export competency” under PMMSY, to provide financial assistance to traditional fishermen for promotion of resource specific deep-sea fishing in all coastal States and UTs.

Annexure

 Impact of overfishing by large mechanised fishing operations.

This answer was given by Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh in reply to a question asked in the Rajya Sabha today.