Potential fishery resources, their exploitation and utilisation

Abstract

Over the years various estimates have been made of the maximum sustainable yield of the total fish resources in the Indian waters. These estimates are by fisheries experts, exploratory teams, trial fishings conducted by independent agencies and Fisheries Survey of, India. While the estimates vary from 2.4 to 6 million tonnes annually, there is a near unanimity in the projection of an annual yield of 4.5 million tonnes from our EEZ, which remains largely unexploited. It is well-known that the marine resources exploitation in the Indian Ocean have stagnated at the level of 1.5 million tonnes for move than a decade. While there has been some increase in the value of exports, and this has been largely due to the better international prices and greater quality control, the annual quantitative catch has remained almost the same, and there is also not much diversification achieved. Our fishing attitudes remain shrimp oriented only and we have made no tangible headway in increasing the production of various other varieties as has been the case in other countries. Hence, the attention of the planners should be focussed to tap this additional resource potential of the EEZ, which is 3.0 million tonnes over the psesent annual catch of 1,6 million tonnes.