Current Status and Prospects of Fishery Resources of the Indian Continental Shelf

Coastal fisheries are an important source of food, employment and foreign exchange. In Indra, the marine fish production Increased by about six times in the last 50 years reaching about 3.2 million tonnes in 2008. \nI provides employment to about one million fishermen and earns foreign exchange of nearly Rs. 1,00,000 million. Most of the marine fish landings are from fishing operations In coastal shelf area" especially from the shallower region ranging from 5 to 100 m depth. In the last few years, \nthe production from coastal fisheries is almost stagnant as these fisheries are adversely affected by a number of problems and Issues, with serious consequences on the availability of fish and income to the fishers. As \nfisheries continue to be open access without any effective controls in place to limit the growth of fishing capacity and fishing effort or limit catches through a quota regime, the sector attracts more number of vessels and \noperators tend to invest more in technological improvements of fishing craft and gear.