Fish production in the country increased by 6.6 per cent to 134.22 lakh tonnes (lt) in 2018-19, as against 125.9 lt in 2017-18, as per provisional estimates, Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Andhra Pradesh, with a combined marine and inland fish production of 39.92 lt, not only remained the top fish producing State, but also increased its production by 15.7 per cent over the previous year's 34.50 lt. West Bengal, which is ranked the second, increased the production marginally to 17.70 lt.
Significantly, Odisha pipped Gujarat to become the third biggest fish producing State with 7.33 lt. At 7.30 lt, fish production in Tamil Nadu also surpassed that of Gujarat which slid 13 per cent to 7.25 lt over 2017-18.
Singh, quoting a Food and Agriculture Organization report, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018, said per capita consumption of fish in India is from 5 to 10 kg a year.