India's marine fish catches record 6.6 % rise in 2016

KOCHI: India’s marine fish catch has registered 6.6 % increase in 2016 from a year ago though the sardine landings continued to decline.

According to the survey of Central marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), the total fish catch in the Indian coasts touched 3.63 million tonnes. Gujarat remained at the top for the fourth consecutive year for maximum fish landings followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

Of all the coastal states, West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra and Daman & Diu witnessed increase in the marine fish landings.

Sardine catches have been on the decline since 2013. In 2016, it has been replaced by mackerel as the fish with maximum landings in the Indian coasts. This is the first time after 1998 that sardine has lost its position as top ranked fish in terms of catch. Mackerel catch stood at 2.5 lakh tonnes compared with 2.44 lakh tonnes of sardine.

A huge rise in Hilsa shad catch helped West Bengal to increase its marine fish production while the cyclones reduced fishing days in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha leading to a drop in catches in these two states.

The total estimate of marine fish landings in 2016 has been estimated at Rs 48,381 crore, up by 12 % from a year earlier. At the retail level, the value is calculated at Rs 73289 crore.

CMFRI director Dr A Gopalakrishnan said there is urgent need to implement control measures to maintain the harvest at sustainable level. `` We have to explore the utilisation of untapped and unconventional resources to meet the demand. The climate change particularly the increase of sea surface temperature and mean sea level rise have affected the marine fish.