Marine fisheries in India-Winter School on Towards Ecosystem Based Management of Marine Fisheries – Building Mass Balance Trophic and Simulation Models

Endowed with a long coastline of 8129 km, 2.02 million sq.km.of EEZ, and 0.5 \nmillion sq.km. of continental shelf and with an annual marine fishery potential of 3.93 \nmillion t, India occupies a unique position among the countries bordering the Indian Ocean. \nIndia is one of the leading nations in the world in marine fishery exports. From the \ntraditional subsistence level, the Indian marine fisheries grew to an industrial status over a \nperiod of half a century since independence. The subsistence fisheries during the early 50's \nproduced about 0.5 million tonnes annually. Currently, the total annual production is of the \norder of about 2.6 million tonnes. This increase is the result of improvements in the \nharvesting methods, increase in the fishing effort and extension of fishing into relatively \ndeeper regions.