KOCHI: India’s marine fish production recorded a marginal rise of 2.1% in 2019 from previous year at 3.56 million tonnes in total landings from across the coasts, according to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI).
A study report on annual marine fish landings estimates in the country during the last year released here by the CMFRI showed that Tamil Nadu took the first position with 7.75 lakh tonnes followed by Gujarat at 7.49 lakh tonnes. Gujarat was holding the first position for the past few years. Kerala (5.44 lakh tonnes) retained the third position.
The data showed an unusual feature of a commercially unimportant fish becoming the most landed resource with the red toothed trigger fish (2.74 lakh tonnes) registering a huge increase in the landings across the coasts of the country. The fish has little demand in domestic markets and is mostly caught for the purpose of feed mills. . The second highest landings at national-level is ribbon fish (2.19 lakh tonnes) followed by penaeid prawns (1.95 lakh tonnes) and non-penaeid prawns (1.80 lakh tonnes).
Indian mackerel, which was in the first spot in 2018, suffered the highest setback with its landings declining by 43% during the last year. While the states such as West Bengal (55%), Andhra Pradesh (34%), Odisha (14.5%), Karnataka (11%) and Tamil Nadu (10.4%) recorded increase in the landings, the marine fish catch decreased in Maharashtra (32%), Goa (44%) and Kerala (15.4%) compared with that in the previous year, said the report.
Of eight cyclonic storms that lashed India, six turned out to be severe. Fani in April, Vayu in June, Hika in September, Kyarr in October, Maha in Oct-Nov and Bulbul in Oct-Nov adversely affected the fishing activity more on the west coast of the country.
The estimate of the value of marine fish landings based on price at landing centres across the country during 2019 was Rs 60,881 crores with 15.6% increase over 2018. At the retail level, the estimated value of marine fish was Rs. 92,356 crores (15% increase over 2018).
Source: indiatimes.com
