arine fish landings in India fell by 5.3 per cent in 2015 from 2014 with Karnataka, Goa and Kerala showing the sharpest drops following serious deficit in oil sardine catch, which fell more than 50 per cent.
Sea fish catch in 2015 totalled 3.40 million tonnes, down from 3.59 million tonnes in 2014.
Oil sardine catch, the mainstay of traditional fishermen in the three southwestern States, fell to 2.66 lakh tonnes last year from 5.45 lakh tonnes in 2014, said A. Gopalakrishnan, director of the Kochi-based Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, releasing the data here on Saturday.
The sharp fall in sardine landings has been attributed to several reasons, including rising water temperature, El Nino effect and overexploitation.
Algal bloom
Catching of spawning stocks and algal bloom too are reasons.
The CMFRI has done a special review of the situation in which sardine catch has fallen, threatening the livelihood of fishermen community.
A seafood exporter said the situation was difficult for the six-billion-dollar industry. The processors pack their work into about four months a year and poor catch during the peak season means poor returns, he said after the figures were released. Gujarat recorded 7.21 lakh tonnes of catch, the biggest volume among the States and Tamil Nadu came a close second with 7.09 lakh tonnes.
These States accounted for 21. 2 per cent and 20.8 per cent respectively of the total fish landings. Kerala had a share of 14.2 per cent with a total catch of 4.82 lakh tonnes.
Marine scientists, who reviewed the data, said that marine fish resources were showing a downward trend after the high of 2012 when fish landings stood at 3.94 million tonnes. The total catch dropped four per cent in 2013; five per cent in 2014; and now, 5.3 per cent last year.
However, the rising price of fish in the domestic market has seen the retail fish market value going up to Rs.65,180 crore during 2015, an increase of nearly 31 per cent over the previous year.
