India’s marine fish landings declined 5 per cent last year to 3.59 million tonnes (mt) against 3.78 mt in 2013.

However, the value based on the price at landing centre increased 8 per cent to ₹31,754 crore and registered 12 per cent growth at the retail level, touching ₹52,363 crore compared with 2013.

The fluctuations in the availability of oil sardines in most of the southern States as well as drop in Hilsa fish landings in West Bengal contributed to the downtrend in arrivals, said Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute officials.

Oil sardine was the largest contributor of the total marine fish landings. Kerala was the leading State in oil sardine landings, said the CMFRI in a report.

Of the nine maritime States and 2 union territories, Gujarat ranked first with landings of 7.12 lakh tonnes (lt) followed by Tamil Nadu with 6.65 lt, Kerala 5.76 lt, Karnataka 4.74 lt, Maharashtra 3.45 lt, Andhra Pradesh 3.42 lt, Goa 1.53 lt, Odisha 1.39 lt, West Bengal 0.77 lt, Puducherry 0.65 lt and Daman & Diu 0.46 lt.

The landings from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Odisha registered an increase during the period while catches from Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Daman & Diu showed a declining trend.

The marine fish species/groups that contributed mainly towards landings last year are oil sardine 5.45 lt, Indian mackerel 2.37 lt, carangids 2.10 lt, ribbonfish 2.09 lt, penaeid prawns 2.06 lt, etc.

The average price per kg of fish at landing centre and retail levels were ₹88.65 and ₹146.27 respectively.

Kerala had the highest realisation of prices at the landing and retail centres, registering a growth of 18.3 per cent and 19.4 per cent respectively.

Related Topics