Fish is considered the cheapest source of protein. The resources within the country give planners ample scope for augmenting fish production with long term planning, which can not only improve health of the nation but can also help in earning more foreign exchange by increasing the exports. Fisheries also provide employment opportunities. A comprehensive and uniform legislation, long term planning and judicious development of the resources through the involvement of all the agencies can improve food security and bring prosperity to the rural economy. In view of the immense potential for fishing and farming the government has recognised this sector as a thrust area for development.

Fish Production (million MT) in India
Year	Capture	Aquaculture	Total
1,995	3.22	1.69	4.91
1,996	3.47	1.78	5.25
1,997	3.52	1.86	5.38
1,998	3.21	2.03	4.24
(Source - FAO Year Book Fisheries Statistics Vol. 86/1 & 86 / 2, 1998)

World Scenario

The world fisheries production during 1999 was 125 million tonnes, up by nearly 7 per cent as compared to the previous year. China contributed 30 per cent of the production by volume. Much of the increase is due to aquaculture, which has shown a steady 10 per cent rise every year since 1990. Capture fisheries also showed a rise of about 6.5 per cent from 86 million tonnes to 92 million tonnes. As the production figures of fish producing countries indicate, India ranks third in world fish production.

Domestic fish production

Fish production during the year 1999-00 was 56.5 lakh tonnes, of which the marine sector contributed 28.3 lakh tonnes whereas the inland sector contributed 28.2 lakh tonnes. Although the overall growth in fish production showed a rise of about one per cent from the previous year, there was a six per cent negative growth in marine fish production, which was compensated by a 10 per cent positive growth in inland fish production mainly due to increase in aquaculture production.

Fisheries provide employment to about 5.96 million full-time and part-time fishermen. The sector also provides sizable employment to the people in ancillary industries like boat building, gear design and fabrication, fish processing, marketing, etc.

The sector can play an important role as a supplementary source of food security. India has an estimated fish production potential of 8.4 million tonnes. This constitutes 3.9 million tonnes from marine resources and 4.5 million tonnes from inland sector. As against this, the country is currently harnessing merely 5.6 million tonnes or 66 per cent of the total production potential. In marine fisheries, nearly 72 per cent of the production potential is being exploited while in inland fisheries around 62 per cent is tapped. However, the estimates of production potentials are based on existing level of productivity. Considering the developments in aquaculture technologies and non-assessed potential specially related to offshore marine aquaculture there is enormous scope for augmentation of both the production potential as well as enhancing of productivity of fisheries sector. This enhancement is expected mainly from aquaculture sector as seen during the last year and to some extent from capture fisheries resources from deep sea.

Exports growth

Exports from fisheries forms an important source of exports earnings. Its share is about 4.3 per cent of the gross national exports and about 16 per cent of the total agriculture exports. For the first time, export earnings in 2000-01 touched Rs 6300 crore in value, which is up 19 per cent from the Rs 5117 crore earned during the preceding year. Shrimp forms the major share of the total exports from India contributing more than 70 per cent in value terms.

Fisheries potential

There is immense potential for both capture and aquaculture in the marine as well as inland sector. The country has a coastline of 8041 kilometres, EEZ of 2.02 million square kilometres and harvestable potential of 3.9 million tonnes per year from marine resources. The aquaculture potential estimated for the country is 4.5 million tonnes from various resources. The country is endowed with vast water resources of varying climate to suit the growth of diverse species of fish ranging from snow trout to tropical carps, which can be spawned in almost all the parts of India. The water bodies suitable for aquaculture include 1.2 million hectare brackish water, 2.85 million hectare of ponds and lakes, 0.8 million hectare of derelict water bodies and 2.05 million hectare of reservoirs. Besides inland water resources, vast untapped resource for mariculture is a boon for aquaculture development.

Financial support

During the shrimp farming boom the FI’s not only provided finance through NABARD refinance schemes but through direct finance for the aquaculture activities which reached a level of more than Rs 460 crore. The data for the first three years of the ninth plan shows that the ground level finance showed an increase from Rs 338 crore to Rs 508 crore from 1997-98 to 1999-00 despite the problems in shrimp farming due to the Supreme Court directive for CRZ regulation, occurrence of diseases and comprehensive strategy for shrimp farming by various state governments. GLC data revels that Andhra Pradesh leads the country in fisheries development through institutional finance followed by Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal for the year 1999-2000. The agency wise analysis of ground level disbursements revels that commercial banks share is highest accounting 71 per cent followed by 22 per cent of cooperative banks and 7 per cent of Regional Rural Banks (RRB).