1.1. Physical Geography
1.2 Indian Fisheries - Capture and Culture
India spans an area of over 3 million sq km with Pakistan in the northwest, Nepal in the north, Bangladesh and Myanmar in the northeast and Sri Lanka in the south. The eastern and western coasts are facing the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea respectively. It has the distinction of having northern and eastern boundaries flanked by the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. Similarly, highly fertile river plains of Indus, Ganges and Brahmputra constitute the northern area of the country. The Deccan plateau is in the south occupying most of the peninsular India, which is dotted with low mountain ranges and deep valleys and bounded in the east and west by mountain ranges of Eastern and Western Ghats.
Most of India experiences tropical climate. Its climate and weather conditions are mostly influenced by the southwestern and northeastern monsoons. Crop production in over 100 million hectares is closely linked to the behavior of the monsoons. These areas suffer chronically due to drought and sometimes due to floods leading to soil erosion. Thus, there is a great variation in annual food production in the country.
India has a mixed economy, most of which is generally in the control of private enterprises. Since 1951, the country has had a steady rate of economic growth. Agriculture is a significant sector of economy. The major crop is rice followed by wheat, sugar cane, tea cotton, jute cashew, coffee and spices. Raising of livestock and birds is also an important sector for beasts of burden, wool, meat and dairy products. Aquaculture has recently become an important sector of agriculture.
The agricultural holdings are generally small, with less than 2 ha size accounting for about 72.6% of total holdings in number and 23.5% of cropped area. About 100 million hectares, out of the net cultivated area of 145 million hectares, have no irrigation facilities and thus farmers adopt rain-fed agricultural practices.
The country has showed quantum jumps in the production potential of crops and livestock as a result of strain upgrading through exotic germ plasm. High yielding varieties of paddy, wheat, maize, sugarcane for irrigated areas and sorghum, pearl millet, oilseeds, cotton, pulses for dry land farming have contributed for the high production.
A massive social program has been directed during the successive Five-Year Development Plans of the Government of India towards betterment of the rural poor and farmers. This includes providing basic infrastructure for technological know-how of agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture, making availability of inputs like fertilizers, improved seeds, water, and assisting them with control measures for pest and conservation of soil. Matching with these, processing and product development facilities and marketing were also organized both in cooperative as well as corporate sectors at the Central, State, District and even at certain Block levels. Credit was arranged through banks and cooperatives apart from subsidies of the Central and State Governments
A massive extension machinery reaching to the grass root levels was organized. The inputs and know-how were extended through various programs such as Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA), Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Laborers Scheme (MFALS), Intensive Poultry Development Project (IPDP), Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA), etc. Service support for inputs like seeds, fertilizers were made through National Seed Corporation of India (NSCI), Fertilization Corporation of India (FCI), State Fish Seed Development Corporation (SFSDC), etc. Similarly, for assisting in marketing, large net work of Food Corporation of India and cooperative sector godowns, Central and State Warehousing Corporations, National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation (NAFED). NAFED poultry, milk and milk product marketing and fish marketing cooperatives were organized.
At present, a silent technological and social transformation is taking place in rural India. It is however more pronounced in those states, which have assured irrigation and input supply network effectively institutionalized and marketing mechanism perfected. The farmers have more assets; they are more enterprising, with higher labor productivity and a fair degree of mechanization of agriculture and animal husbandry. But many of the measures directed towards social goals of raising the lots of the poor agricultural labors and small land holders have at times been very frustrating, because of many reasons. The results of many development programs have been diluted because of the population growth, which is touching 1 billion marks very soon, with about 73% of the total population living in the rural areas.
Besides its coastline of 8,041 km, and continental shelf of 0.42 million square km, India possesses vast inland aquatic resources in the form of 171,334 km of rivers and canal, 2.05 million ha of reservoirs, 2.36 million ha of ponds and tanks, 1.07 million ha of beels, ox bow lakes and derelict waters and 1.42 million ha of brackish water area. Globally it stands as the sixth largest producer of fish amounting to 4.95 million tons from its fresh and marine ecosystems. Of which about 2.24 million tons of fish is harvested from its inland aquatic resources and thus the country occupies the second position in inland fish production in the world.
During the last 50 years fisheries production in India has increased from about 0.75 million tons of fish and shellfish to over 4.95 million tons in 1995-96. The marine fisheries showed an increase from about 0.53 million tons to 2.70 million tons, whereas inland from about 0.21 million tons to 2.24 million tons. Aquaculture both from freshwater and brackishwater has contributed considerably to such an increase. In fact, aquaculture contribution has increased to over three times from 0.51 million tons to 1.6 million tons during last decade.
Similarly, contribution of fisheries sector to the GDP has increased considerably compared to agriculture. It showed ten times increase from 1980-81 to 1994-95 compared to the agriculture contribution of five times. The fisheries sector also contributed greatly to the export earning of the country, while adding considerably to the fish availability to about 8 kg/per caput. Table 1 shows general information on fisheries in India whereas Table 2 shows the details of inland fisheries resources of the country.
Table 1. General Information
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1. Area of India: |
3.3 million sq km |
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2. Shelf Area: |
about 0.5 million sq km |
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3. Length of Coastline: |
8041 kms |
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4. Population: |
(1991 Census) |
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Male: |
437,597,929 |
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Female: |
406,332,932 |
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Total: |
843,930,861 |
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5. Fisherman population during |
(1994) |
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Full time fishermen: |
2,394,574 |
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Part time fishermen: |
1,443,223 |
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Occasional fishermen: |
2,121,347 |
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Total: |
5,959,144 |
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6. Estimates of production potential: |
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Inland sector: |
4.5 million tones |
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Marine sector: |
3.9 million tones |
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7. Exclusive Economic Zone 2.02 million
km2 |
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8. Fish production during |
1995-96 |
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Inland sector: |
2.24 million tones |
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Marine sector: |
2.70 million tones |
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Total: |
4.94 million tones |
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9. Seed production (95-96): |
15,007 million fry |
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10. Contribution of fisheries to GDP 94-95: |
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At current prices: |
Rs. 10,963 crores (1.28% of total GDP) |
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At constant prices: |
(1980-81)Rs. 1,935 crores (0.77% of total GDP) |
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11. Export of marine products 95-96: |
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Quantity: |
296.30 thousands tones |
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Value: |
Rs 3501.11 crores |
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12. Primary Fisheries Cooperatives (As on 30th June
1995): |
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No. of Societies: |
11,440 |
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Paid-up capital (000): |
170,400 |
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Membership (Number): |
1,250,379 |
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Working capital (000): |
881,300 |
Table 2. Inland Fishery Resources In India
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State/Uts |
Length of rivers & canals |
Area of reservoirs |
Area under tanks & ponds |
Beels, oxbow & derelict water |
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Andhra Pradesh |
11 514 |
2.34 |
5.17 |
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Assam |
4 820 |
0.02 |
0.23 |
1.10 |
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Bihar |
3 200 |
0.60 |
0.95 |
0.05 |
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Goa |
250 |
0.03 |
0.03 |
- |
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Gujarat |
3 865 |
2.43 |
0.71 |
0.12 |
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Haryana |
5 000 |
Neg |
0.10 |
0.10 |
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Himachal Pradesh |
3 000 |
0.42 |
0.01 |
- |
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Jammu & Kashmir |
27 781 |
0.07 |
0.17 |
0.06 |
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Karnataka |
9 000 |
2.20 |
4.14 |
- |
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Kerala |
3 092 |
0.30 |
0.03 |
- |
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Madhya Pradesh |
20 661 |
2.94 |
1.19 |
- |
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Maharashtra |
1 600 |
2.79 |
0.50 |
- |
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Manipur |
3 360 |
0.01 |
0.02 |
0.40 |
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Meghalaya |
5 600 |
0.08 |
0.50 |
Neg. |
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Nagaland |
1 600 |
0.17 |
1.14 |
Neg. |
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Orissa |
4 500 |
2.56 |
0.07 |
1.80 |
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Punjab |
15 270 |
Neg. |
1.80 |
- |
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Rajasthan |
NA |
1.20 |
- |
- |
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Sikkim |
900 |
- |
2.24 |
0.03 |
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Tamil Nadu |
7 420 |
0.52 |
0.12 |
5.24 |
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Tripura |
1 200 |
0.05 |
1.62 |
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Uttar Pradesh |
31 200 |
1.50 |
2.76 |
1.33 |
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West Bengal |
2 526 |
0.17 |
0.01 |
0.42 |
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Arunachal Pradesh |
2 000 |
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0.02 |
0.03 |
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Mizoram |
1 395 |
- |
0.003 |
- |
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Andaman & Nicobar |
115 |
0.01 |
Neg |
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Chandigarh |
2 |
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Neg. |
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Delhi |
150 |
0.04 |
Neg |
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Lakshadweep |
- |
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Pondicherry |
247 |
- |
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0.01 |
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Dadra & Naga Haveli |
54 |
0.05 |
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Daman & Diu |
12 |
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Total |
171 334 |
20.50 |
23.553 |
10.69 |
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NA |
- |
Not available |
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UTs |
- |
Union Territories |
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Neg. |
- |
Negligible |
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Lakh |
- |
‘00000 |
Source: Hand Book on Fisheries Statistics, 1993, 1996; Govt. of India
