Fisheries is the fastest growing food producing sector in the world with a great potential to meet the food, especially protein requirement of a large number of population. With an annual growth rate of above 7 per cent, India is the second largest producer of fish from aquaculture in the world.
The National Policy on Marine Fisheries 2017 has sustainability of the resources at the core of all actions. The policy framework aims to meet the national, social and economic goals, livelihood sustainability and socio-economic upliftment of the fisher community and is intended to guide the coordination and management of marine fisheries in the country during the next ten years.
To realize the full potential of marine fisheries, focus will be directed towards fishing effort management; fleet size optimization; mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in production processes; species-specific and area-specific management plans, including conservation of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) and Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs); protection of iconic and endangered and threatened (ETP) species; spatial and temporal measures for sustainable utilization of resources; and creation of fish refugia through consultative processes.
The use of Information Technology (IT) and Space Technology (ST) will be put to optimum use for harnessing the benefits in support of the fisher community.
For preventing uncontrolled harvests leading to depletion of resources, the Government will take appropriate steps in optimizing fishing effort and implementing measures that will help in sustaining the resources. These measures will inter-alia include, input and output controls such as fleet size, fishing days, area of operation, engine horsepower, gear size, MSY, minimum mesh size, minimum legal size, diverting effort to areas which are relatively less harvested, fleet plans, and creating fisheries management areas to ensure that resource depletion is contained.
While promoting development of sustainable fisheries, the Government intends to place emphasis on maintenance of the ecological integrity of marine environment, so as to ensure that there are no adverse effects on the endangered, threatened or protected marine species.