Coastal Aquaculture and Mariculture

Unit 4 - Indian marine capture fisheries

4.3. Marine fish production
The total marine fish production in the country increased from 0.534 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 2.809 million tonnes in 2005-06 with a peak production of 2.950 million tonnes in 1997-98. However, the growth rate since 1981 has been on the decline. The production from the pelagic fish resources in the country had a three fold increase since 1961, reaching 1.36 mt in 2000 with a peak of 1.40 mt in 1997. However, its relative contribution to the total landings decreased from about 71 % in 1965 to 50% in 2000. Similarly, the landings of demersal resources increased from 0.23 mt, forming 34% of the total in 1961 to 1.32 mt, forming 50% of the total in 2000. The following table shows the marine fish production in India for the period 1950-51 to 2005 -06.

States and Union Territory -wise marine fish production
Of the nine maritime states and four union territories, Gujarat ranks first in marine capture production, followed by Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu.

Sector-wise fish production
Northwest coast contributed 34% to the total marine fish production, followed by the southwest coast (33%), southeast coast (23%) and the rest (10%) by the northeast coast during the same period.