Pelagic Fisheries of India – An overview

Abstract

The annual pelagic fish landings of the country comprising diverse species, increased from0.3 million t in 1950 to >3 million t in 2021, marking a tenfold increase. The pelagic resourcesconsistently constituted over half of the total marine fish landings. Major contributors tothe pelagic landings are sardines, mackerels, tunas, carangids, ribbonfishes, Bombayduck,codlets, billfishes and barracudas. The west coast of India accounts for 60% of total pelagiclandings with the south-west coast comprising of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa sustainingvast shoals of small pelagic fishes thriving in the nutrient-rich upwelled waters. The pelagicfishes play a crucial role in the marine ecosystem, functioning as both prey and predator.Furthermore, the small pelagic fishes serve as sources of protein-rich food for coastalpopulations, and the large pelagic species command lucrative market prices both in thedomestic and export markets. Continuous monitoring of the landings of pelagic fishes isessential for recommending suitable management plans for the optimal and sustainableexploitation of the available pelagic resources in Indian waters. This paper attempts toprovide an overview of the marine pelagic fisheries of India, based on analysis of the fishlandings data across various sectors spanning the period from 1985 to 2021. Keywords:Marine fish landings, Pelagic fishes, Sustainableexploitation, State-wise contribution, Trends