Pelagic Fisheries of India – An overview

Abstract

The annual pelagic fish landings of the country comprising diverse species, increased from
0.3 million t in 1950 to >3 million t in 2021, marking a tenfold increase. The pelagic resources
consistently constituted over half of the total marine fish landings. Major contributors to
the pelagic landings are sardines, mackerels, tunas, carangids, ribbonfishes, Bombayduck,
codlets, billfishes and barracudas. The west coast of India accounts for 60% of total pelagic
landings with the south-west coast comprising of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa sustaining
vast shoals of small pelagic fishes thriving in the nutrient-rich upwelled waters. The pelagic
fishes play a crucial role in the marine ecosystem, functioning as both prey and predator.
Furthermore, the small pelagic fishes serve as sources of protein-rich food for coastal
populations, and the large pelagic species command lucrative market prices both in the
domestic and export markets. Continuous monitoring of the landings of pelagic fishes is
essential for recommending suitable management plans for the optimal and sustainable
exploitation of the available pelagic resources in Indian waters. This paper attempts to
provide an overview of the marine pelagic fisheries of India, based on analysis of the fish
landings data across various sectors spanning the period from 1985 to 2021.

Keywords:
Marine fish landings, Pelagic fishes, Sustainable
exploitation, State-wise contribution, Trends