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Fisheries and aquaculture are among India’s fastest-growing food-producing sectors, playing a captious relation successful livelihoods, nutrition, and trade. Over the decades, India has witnessed singular maturation successful aquatic nutrient accumulation that is driven by technological innovation, organization enactment and proactive argumentation measures. Yet, the assemblage faces captious challenges. Overfishing, situation degradation, h2o contamination and clime alteration are straining aquatic ecosystems. Small-scale fishers and farmers often deficiency entree to finance, exertion and markets, portion mediocre traceability and inadequate post-harvest measures bounds taping of the champion export and home marketplace imaginable and compromise nutrient security.
On World Fisheries Day 2025 (November 21), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) calls for a renewed committedness to India’s Blue Revolution and supports the Government of India’s taxable this year, which is “India’s Blue Transformation: Strengthening Value Addition successful Seafood Exports”.
India’s maturation successful fisheries and aquaculture
According to the FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2024, planetary seizure fisheries produced 92.3 cardinal tonnes successful 2022, portion aquaculture reached a grounds 130.9 cardinal tonnes, valued astatine $313 billion. India contributed 10.23 cardinal tonnes of aquatic animals, making it the world’s second-largest aquaculture producer.
India’s aquatic nutrient production, encompassing seizure fisheries and aquaculture, has risen from 2.44 cardinal tonnes successful the 1980s to 17.54 cardinal tonnes successful 2022-23. Aquaculture has emerged arsenic 1 of the cardinal operator of this growth, reflecting sectoral modernisation done precocious technologies, infrastructure and organization support.
Agencies specified arsenic the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) fisheries institutes, Marine Products Export Development Authority, and National Fisheries Development Board person promoted innovation and champion practices, portion the Coastal Aquaculture Authority has regulated coastal aquaculture activities to guarantee biology compliance. The backstage assemblage has expanded investments from hatcheries to exports, reinforcing worth concatenation efficiency.
The past decennary has ushered successful a caller signifier of transformation, opening with India’s Blue Revolution inaugural and advancing nether the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). These programmes person driven accumulation growth, peculiarly successful inland and brackish h2o aquaculture, portion improving safety, regulation, and resilience successful fisheries.
Key reforms see vas transponders for fisher safety, integer and recognition inclusion done the Kisan Credit Card, and the constitution of Matsya Seva Kendras for integrated support. The Climate-Resilient Coastal Fishermen Villages Programme and the draught National Fisheries Policy 2020 are affirmative developments.
The FAO’s enactment crossed India
The FAO has been a long-standing spouse successful India’s fisheries and aquaculture journey, supporting the country’s modulation toward sustainability and resilience. The FAO’s decades of collaboration with India person shaped policy, strengthened institutions, and precocious innovation successful the sector.
The FAO’s collaboration with India began with the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP), 1 of FAO’s earliest determination small-scale fisheries initiatives. The FAO, done BOBP, has supported the Government of India successful improving small-scale sportfishing technologies, strengthening oversea safety, and enhancing post-harvest management.
The FAO’s Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) task strengthened India’s efforts to equilibrium fisheries and conservation, supporting the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM), and National Plans of Action to combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, a large menace to marine ecosystems and sustainable fisheries, conserve endangered taxon and prolong small-scale fisheries.
To enactment India’s accelerated strides successful the tract of aquaculture, the FAO is supporting a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded task successful Andhra Pradesh connected ‘Transforming Aquaculture to a Sustainable, Reduced Footprint and Climate-Resilient Food System’, guided by Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA) and Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture (EAA) principles. The task aims to enactment the Department of Fisheries, Government of Andhra Pradesh, successful promoting climate-resilient, sustainable aquaculture, benefiting the State and serving arsenic a exemplary for India to instrumentality guardant the government’s Blue Revolution.
As portion of the aquatic worth chain, strengthening of sportfishing ports and sportfishing harbours is besides 1 of the main thrust areas of the Government of India. A Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) of the FAO intends to assistance the Government of India to fortify the method capacities of sportfishing ports to code main environmental, societal and economical challenges that impact the aquatic worth chain. Two aviator sportfishing ports, specifically Vanakbara (Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Diu without legislation) and Jakhau successful Gujarat, volition payment from this TCP that volition supply them with circumstantial strategical and operational tools to place and formulate investments projects, whose implementation would code main challenges.
Focus connected sustainability
India’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors are connected a promising trajectory. Yet, sustainability indispensable stay central. Managing sportfishing efforts done science-based banal assessments, promoting co-managed Monitoring Control and Surveillance (MCS) to curb IUU fishing, pursuing Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture and embedding ecosystem-based approaches are cardinal priorities. Strengthening certification, traceability, and integer tools — portion ensuring inclusivity for smallholders — volition heighten competitiveness successful home and planetary markets.
The FAO remains committed to supporting India’s travel toward sustainable aquatic nutrient systems, ensuring nutrient and nutritional security, and reducing biology and clime footprints, guiding India’s Blue Revolution toward a resilient and inclusive future.
Takayuki Hagiwara is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative successful India and portion of Team UN successful India
