India’s Marine Fisheries: Claim of Sustainability vs Inshore Crisis
Why in the news
A professor of coastal resource governance questioned the official finding that most Indian fish stocks are healthy. He wrote that the shallow coastal seabed, where shrimp and other species breed, is being wrecked.
Key facts
- Official claim (Department of Fisheries, 11 February 2026, from CMFRI data): 91.1% of 135 stocks assessed in 2022 sustainable.
- Landing value of marine fisheries in 2022: ₹58,247 crore.
- Critic: Prof. Maarten Bavinck, University of Amsterdam, drawing on 30 years of work on the Tamil Nadu coast.
- Method gap: CMFRI counts what fishers land instead of running at-sea stock assessments.
- FAO view: production has plateaued; most major stocks are fully exploited; unregulated access caused overcapacity in medium and small trawlers.
| Stock status (2022) | Share |
|---|---|
| Sustainable | 91.1% |
| Overfished | 8.2% |
| Rebuilding | 0.7% |
Inshore zone and why it is declining
- The continental shelf is narrow overall; widest off Gujarat and part of Maharashtra.
- Territorial sea: 12 nautical miles (22 km). EEZ: 200 nautical miles (371 km), covering about 2 million sq km.
- Causes of decline: dams on big rivers cutting nutrient flow, mangrove loss, marine pollution and mechanised trawling that disturbs the seabed.
- India has 64,414 mechanised vessels, with almost no limits on new entrants and ever stronger engines fitted on old boats.
- Semi-industrial trawling came from abroad around 1960.
Regulation gaps
- A yearly 2-month closure of mechanised fishing exists.
- The ban on mechanised boats within 5 nautical miles is weakly enforced: coastal States lack patrol staff and craft, and fishers are kept out of enforcement.
Palk Bay
- A narrow strait between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka; Indian trawlers regularly enter Sri Lankan waters, harming Sri Lankan small-scale fishers.
- Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island, went to Sri Lanka in 1974; ownership does not settle the trawling problem.
- The Sri Lankan Navy often detains Indian fishermen.
Way forward
- Government favours deep-sea fishing, but FAO sees only a marginal gain and other nations compete there.
- Restore inshore governance, curb mechanised fishing, tackle pollution.
- Have CMFRI study the health of the seabed environment, not only catch.
- Involve fishers in management and coordinate Union and State action.
About CMFRI and FAO
- CMFRI: set up 3 February 1947; headquartered at Kochi; under ICAR; Director in 2026 Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan; flagship report Marine Fish Stock Status of India, 2022.
- FAO: UN specialised agency founded 16 October 1945, headquartered in Rome; Director-General Qu Dongyu; India is a founding member.
Fisheries profile and schemes
- Coastline 11,098.81 km; 9 coastal states and 4 coastal UTs.
- PMMSY: launched September 2020, outlay ₹20,050 crore, 2020-25.
- FIDF: corpus ₹7,522.48 crore. Others: Blue Revolution (2015-16), Sagar Parikrama, KCC for fishers, National Policy on Marine Fisheries 2017.
Exam angle
- Parent body of CMFRI: ICAR; headquarters: Kochi.
- Territorial sea 12 NM versus EEZ 200 NM.
- Widest shelf: Gujarat coast.
- Related scheme: PMMSY with ₹20,050 crore.