India’s marine fish production increases slightly in 2019

Web Desk

Tamil Nadu has grabbed the first position in fish landings with 7.75 lakh tonnes followed by Gujarat (7.49 lakh t), which was holding the first position for a past few years, and Kerala (5.44 lakh t) which retained the third position, according to a study report.
India’s marine fish production registered a marginal increase of 2.1% in 2019 compared to the previous year with the country recording 3.56 million tonnes in total landings from across the coasts during the year, according to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI).This was revealed in a study report on annual marine fish landings estimates in the country during the last year released here by the CMFRI.
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 t) registering a huge increase in the landings across the coasts of the country. Ironically, this fish has little demand in domestic markets and is mostly caught for the purpose of feed mills.
In another major highlight of the data, Indian mackerel, which was in the first spot in 2018, suffered the highest setback with its landings declining by 43 per cent 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 to the previous year. The second highest landings in national-level is ribbon fish (2.19 lakh t) followed by penaeid prawns (1.95 lakh t) and non-penaeid prawns (1.80 lakh t).
As many as eight cyclonic storms in and around India of which 6 of them turned out to be severe cyclones (Fani in April, Vayu in June, Hika in September, Kyarr in October, Maha in Oct-Nov and Bulbul in Oct-Nov) affected the fishing calendar days more adversely on the west coast of the country.

Fish production declines in Kerala

Kerala suffered a significant drop of 15.4 per cent in the marine fish landings during the last year with a total landings of 5.44 lakh tonnes. Sharp decline in the catch of oil sardine and Indian mackerel, the two major resources in the state, is the major highlight of Kerala’s landings. While oil sardine dropped to a meagre 44,320 tonnes, the lowest catch in two decades, Indian mackerel (40,554 t) experienced a steep decline of 50 per cent compared to the previous year.
In 2012, the catch of oil sardine in Kerala was 3.9 lakh tonnes. Since then, there was a substantial decrease in the catch every year, but it moved up in 2017. The oil sardine landings again continued to decline for the past two years thanks to the unfavourable changes in ocean environment. After analysing the correlation between the ocean environment and biological cycle of the oil sardine, the CMFRI had forecast in January last year that sardine landing would decline in the year in Kerala waters. The contribution from Kerala towards the overall landings in the country reduced to 15.3 per cent from 18.4 per cent in 2018.
The anchovies group (74.194 t) tops the list of the most landed resources in the state followed by red toothed trigger fish (62,782 t) and penaeid prawns (46,615 t).

Increase in value of fish
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 per cent increase over 2018. The unit price per kg of fish at landing centre rate was Rs. 170.5 (12.2 per cent increase). At the retail level, the estimated value of marine fish was Rs. 92,356 crores (15 per cent increase over 2018). The unit price at the retail market level was Rs. 258.7 (12 per cent increase over 2018). The marketing efficiency determining the producer’s share of the consumers was found to be 66 (0.6 per cent increase over 2018).
In Kerala, the value of marine fish landings based on price at landing centres was Rs. 12,387 crores with an increase of 20.35 per cent over 2018 while it was Rs 17,515 crores in retail level in the state recording nearly 19 per cent increase.
The Fishery Resources Assessment Division of the CMFRI estimated the annual marine fish landings of the country through its online data collection system.