India’s marine fish catch dips two per cent in 2024, Gujarat leads landings

India's marine fish catch fell slightly in 2024 to 3.47 million tonnes, down two per cent from the previous year, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) said on Monday, 4 August.

Gujarat landed the most fish for the year at 754,000 tonnes, followed by Tamil Nadu with 679,000 tonnes and Kerala with 610,000 tonnes, CMFRI said in its annual estimates.

Indian mackerel topped the catch list at 263,000 tonnes, followed by oil sardine at 241,000 tonnes.

Across the country, landings of mackerel, threadfin breams, oil sardine, ribbonfish, non-penaeid shrimps and cephalopods fell from 2023 levels. But catches of lesser sardines, penaeid shrimps, anchovies and tuna increased.

While the west coast region suffered an overall decrease in landings, the east coast showed an increasing trend, with exceptions in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, it said.

Maharashtra registered the highest growth of 47 per cent compared to the previous year. West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Odisha also saw notable increases of 35 per cent, 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, the release said.

However, states like Karnataka, Goa, and Daman & Diu experienced significant declines in landings, it said.

The CMFRI said, in total, about 2.5 lakh fishing trips were monitored, offering an in-depth view into nationwide effort and productivity.

Mechanised crafts reported an average catch of 2,959 kg per trip, motorised crafts managed 174 kg per trip and non-motorised vessels recorded a modest 41 kg per trip, it said.

The CMFRI report pointed out that cyclonic storms such as Dana, Fengal, Remal, and Asna significantly impacted fishing activities, contributing to the overall decline.

Increased heatwave days in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala further disrupted fishing operations.

Kerala recorded a marginal decrease of four per cent in the marine fish catch in 2024 compared to the previous year, totalling a landing of 6.10 lakh tonnes.

Indian oil sardine topped the list of most caught species in the state with 1.49 lakh tonnes, registering a slight increase of 7.6 per cent.

Indian mackerel (61,490 t), penaeid shrimp (44,630 t), anchovies (44,440 t) and threadfin breams (33,890 t) were the other major contributors to Kerala's total marine catch. Indian mackerel saw a decline of 16 per cent in landings. The year witnessed very low landing and higher landing of oil sardine in different quarters.

The year saw an unusual fluctuation in oil sardine landings in the state. A severe scarcity in the first quarter led to prices escalating to Rs 350-400 per kg. However, from September onwards, as landings surged exceeding one lakh tonne in the last quarter, prices dropped sharply to Rs 20-30 per kg.

Compared to 2023, southern districts of the state (Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam) saw a decline northern districts (Malappuram to Kasaragod) registered an increase in the landings.

The Fishery Resources Assessment, Economics and Extension Division of the CMFRI estimated the annual marine fish landings of the country through its online data collection system.