Climate change impact on coastal fisheries and aquaculture in the SAARC region: Country paper – India

India is one of major fish producing countries in the world contributing over 3% of both marine and freshwater fishes to the world production with third position in capture fisheries. Fisheries and aquaculture play very important role in terms of food supply, food security and employment opportunities in India. India has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.02 million sq.km, and a long coastline of 8,118 km and two major groups of Islands with rich and diverse marine living resources. The marine fisheries wealth is estimated at an annual harvestable potential of 4.412 million metric tonnes. An estimated 4.0 million people depend for their livelihoods on the marine fisheries resources. Marine fisheries contribute about Rs. 65,000 crores to the Indian economy and makes up a significant portion of the export earnings (3%) of the country and balance of trade. The share of marine fisheries to India’s GDP is 1.11%. The marine fisheries of the country are highly diverse but predominantly comprising small-scale and artisanal fishers. It is estimated that 63% of the marine catch in India originates from the western coast, with the remaining being made up by the eastern coast.