Hindustan Times
13 August, 2013
India’s fishing industry is close to reaching saturation point.
The study by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has revealed that fish catch surged six times, from 0.6 million tons (mt) in 1961 to 3.53mt in 2010 – not far from the maximum potential of 4.4mt annually.
The contribution of mechanised boats increased from 15.3% of overall fish landings in 1961 to 76.2% in 2010, while it decreased from 84.7% to 3.7% for non-motorised boats. In 2010, trawlers used 35.58 million fishing hours with catch rate of 44.4kg per hour; thereby contributing 71.1% to the CO2 emission in the mechanised sub-sector.
On a global scale, fish catch has reached stagnation point at around 90mt since 1995.