Fishing in India
Fishing in India is a major industry employing 145 million people. India ranks second in aquaculture and third in fisheries production. Fisheries contributes to 1.07% of the Total GDP of India. According to the National Fisheries Development Board the Fisheries Industry generates an export earnings of Rs 334.41 billion. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, fish production has increased more than tenfold since 1947 and doubled between 1990 and 2010.Each year, India celebrates July 10 as the National Fish Farmers day.
India has of marine coastline, 3,827 fishing villages and 1,914 traditional fish landing centers. India's fresh water resources consist of of rivers and canals, 2.9 million hectares of minor and major reservoirs, 2.4 million hectares of ponds and lakes, and about 0.8 million hectares of flood plain wetlands and water bodies. As of 2010, the marine and freshwater resources offered a combined sustainable catch fishing potential of over 4 million metric tonnes of fish. In addition, India's water and natural resources offer a tenfold growth potential in aquaculture from 2010 harvest levels of 3.9 million metric tonnes of fish, if India were to adopt fishing knowledge, regulatory reforms and sustainability policies.
History
Historical texts like Kautilya's Arthashastra and King Someswara's Manasollasa refer to fish culture. For centuries, India has had a traditional practice of fish culture in small ponds. Significant advances in productivity were made in the early nineteenth century with the controlled breeding of carp in tanks where river conditions are simulated. Brackishwater farming was done on an old system where man-made impediments in coastal wetlands and salt resistant deep water paddy fields.Economic benefits
Fishing in India contributed over 1 percent of India's annual gross domestic product in 2008. Fishing in India employs about 14.5 million people. To harvest the economic benefits from fishing, India has adopted exclusive economic zone, stretching into the Indian Ocean, encompasses more than 2 million square kilometers. In addition to this marine zone, India has about 14,000 km2 of brackish water available for aquaculture, about 16,000 km2 of freshwater lakes, ponds, and swamps; and nearly 64,000 kilometers of rivers and streams. In 1990, there were 1.7 million full-time fishermen, 1.3 million part-time fishermen, and 2.3 million occasional fishermen, many of whom worked as saltmakers, ferrymen, or seamen, or operated boats for hire. In the early 1990s, the fishing fleet consisted of 180,000 traditional craft powered by sails or oars, 26,000 motorized traditional craft, and some 34,000 mechanized boats.Fish production rose from 800,000 tons in FY 1950 to 4.1 million tons in the early 1990s. From 1990 through 2010, Indian fish industry accelerated, reaching a total marine and freshwater fish production to about 8 million metric tons. In 2006, Indian central government initiated a dedicated organization focused on fisheries, under its Ministry of Agriculture. Special efforts have been made to promote extensive and intensive inland fish farming, modernize coastal fisheries, and encourage deep-sea fishing through joint ventures. These efforts led to a more than fourfold increase in coastal fish production from 520,000 tons in FY 1950 to 3.35 million tons in FY 2013. The increase in inland fish production was even more dramatic, increasing almost eightfold from 218,000 tons in FY 1950 to 6.10 million tons in FY 2013. The value of fish and processed fish exports increased from less than 1 percent of the total value of exports in FY 1960 to 3.6 percent in FY 1993. Between 1990 and 2007, fish production in India has grown at a higher rate than food grains, milk, eggs, and other food items. Indian inland waters contribute 62–65% of the total fisheries production.
Law and regulations
National laws include the British-era Indian Fisheries Act, 1897, which penalizes the killing of fish by poisoning water and by using explosives; the Environment Protection Act, 1986, being an umbrella act containing provisions for all environment related issues affecting fisheries and aquaculture industry in India, the Water Act, 1974 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 prevents the fishing of rare species of fishes. In 1996, the Indian Supreme Court prohibited the setting up of Shrimp farm ponds except traditional and improved traditional types of ponds on the Coastal Regulation Zone and on the Chilka Lake and Pulicat Lake. The Order No 722 of 2002 prohibited the use of certain antibiotics and pharmacologically active substances in hatcheries of production of the juveniles,larvae etc or in manufacturing the fish feed or in processing fish products. In 2017, the Indian government banned selling of 158 fish species of ornamental fishes and also made it mandatory that a full-time fishery expert be present in the Ornamental fish farm for inspecting the health of the fishes. Regulations regarding the tank size, stocking density of fish and volume of water were also introduced.In India, annually fishing is banned for 61 days during first two months of monsoon for the breeding and spawning of the fishes. During this time mechanised fishing vessels like trawlers are banned from fishing
In 2019, a separate named the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries was formed.
Research and training
Fisheries research and training institutions in India are supported by central and state governments. The major fisheries research institutions operating under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research are the Fishery Survey of India, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute at Kochi, the Central Institute of Fisheries Education at Mumbai, the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute at Barrackpore in West Bengal, Central Fisheries Corporation at Kolkata, the Central Institute of Coastal Engineering for Fisheries at Bangalore and the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology at Kochi in Kerala. Fishery training is provided by the Central Institute of Fisheries Education in Mumbai, which has ancillary institutions at Barrackpore in Uttar Pradesh and Hyderabad in Telangana. The Government of India established the National Fisheries Development Board in 2006 with its headquarters in Hyderabad.The Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Training with facilities in Chennai, Kochi and Vishakapatnam trains operators of deep-sea fishing vessels and technicians for shore establishments. Fisheries Institute of Technology and Training was established in Chennai in collaboration Tata Group to improve the socioeconomic condition of fishermen. The Integrated Fisheries Project was established to research on processing, popularizing and marketing of unusual fish. At present there are 19 Fisheries colleges run by state Governments.
Issues
Despite rapid growth in total fish production, a fish farmers’ average annual production in India is only 2 tonnes per person, compared to 172 tonnes in Norway, 72 tonnes in Chile, and 6 tonnes per fisherman in China. In India, fishing and selling of critically endangered fish species are banned. But sometimes due to the lack of awareness drive from the State fisheries department officials critically endangered species were killed. The annual fishing ban is done during the Mansoon season for breeding and spawning of fish species. But some fish species like Cuttlefish and squid breed and spawn during October. So there are suggestions to increasing the trawling ban to 90 days.Indian fishermen get captured by the navies of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Skirmishes with Sri Lankan navy often results in casualties and damage of boats. As of 2014, out of the 281 Indian prisoners in Pakistan jails 232 were Indian fishermen. In 2013, an Indian fisherman died in Pakistan jail. In 2014, another Indian fisherman died in Pakistan jail.In 2020 the Pakistan marines fired two Indian boats near the international maritime boundary line in which one fisherman got injured.
There has been an increase in the number of Chinese deap-sea fishing trawlers in the Southern Indian Ocean which caused concerns. Between 2015-19, around 500 Chinese trawlers were cited in the region
Aquaculture
Carp
Carp farming in the country started between 1970 and 1980 due to the demonstrated high production levels of 8 to 10 tonnes/hectare/year in an incubation center. Late 1980s saw the dawn of aquaculture in India and transformed fish culture into a more modern enterprise. With the economic liberalization of the early 1990s, fishing industry got a major investment boost.India's breeding and culture technologies include primarily different species of carp, including the important Indian major carp species ; other species such as catfish, murrels and prawns are recent additions. The culture systems adopted in the country vary greatly depending on the input available in any particular region as well as on the investment capabilities of the farmer. While extensive aquaculture is carried out in comparatively large water bodies with stocking of the fish seed as the only input beyond utilising natural productivity, elements of fertilisation and feeding have been introduced into semi-intensive culture. The different culture systems in Indian practice include:
- Intensive pond culture with supplementary feeding and aeration
- Composite carp culture
- Weed-based carp polyculture
- Integrated fish farming with poultry, pigs, ducks, horticulture, etc.
- Pen culture
- Cage culture
- Running-water fish culture
Prawn or shrimp
The giant tiger prawn is the dominant species chosen for aquaculture, followed by the Indian white prawn and Pacific white shrimp.'' In 2015–16, West Bengal was the largest producer of tiger shrimp for export, followed by Odisha. Andhra Pradesh was the largest producer of Pacific white shrimp.