CMFRI releases annual marine fish landings data from Indian coasts
KOCHI, 13 July 2019: The catch of oil sardine from the Indian coasts suffered a sharp decline of 54% as the fish fell down to 9th position from the first spot, according to India’s marine fish landing estimates for the year 2018. The total marine fish production in 2018 recorded 3.49 million tonnes with a drop of 3.47 lakh tonnes (9%) compared to the previous year mainly due to reduced catch in West Bengal, Karnataka and Maharashtra with a drop of 2.01 lakh tonnes, 0.95 lakh tonnes and 0.86 lakh tonnes respectively.
The data, which was released by the Kochi headquartered Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Friday, also showed Indian mackerel (2.84 lakh tonnes) is the most landed marine fish in the country during the year followed by cephalopods (2.21 lakh tonnes), non-penaeid prawns (1.94 lakh tonnes), ribbon fish (1.94 lakh tonnes) and penaeid prawns (1.84 lakh tonnes). The catch of sardine dropped to 1.55 lakh tonnes all over India from 3.37 lakh tonnes in 2017.
While a steep fall was recorded in West Bengal, Karnataka and Maharashtra Among the nine maritime states, Gujarat remained in the first position in the landings with 7.80 lakh tonnes followed by Tamil Nadu (7.02 lakh tonnes) and Kerala (6.43 lakh tonnes). Unusually huge catch of red toothed trigger fish about 72,000 t was another highlight of the estimates, with Karnataka recording high landings of this species.
Oil sardine catch drops 39% in Kerala
In Kerala, the oil sardine catch fell to 77,093 tonnes from 1.27 lakh tonnes in 2017 with a decline of 39%. However, the state registered a 10% increase with 6. 42 lakh tonnes in total landings compared to the previous year with all other major resources except oil sardine recording increased catch. As in the overall landings in India, the Indian mackerel (80,568 t) turned out to be the most abundant resource in Kerala too with a significant increase of 142% from the previous year. The other major resources topped in the state were anchovies (58,766 t), threadfin breams (53,549 t), penaeid prawns (50,472 t) and cephalopods (50,180 t). Ernakulam district contributed maximum (25%) to the state landings where Munambam remained as the most contributing fishing harbour in the state.
Slight increase in value of fish
The estimate of the value of marine fish landings based on price at landing centres across the country during 2018 was Rs 52,632 crores, with 0.4% increase over 2017. The average price per kg of fish at landing centre rate was Rs.152 (11.1% increase). At the retail level, the estimated value of marine fish was Rs. 80,320 crores (2.4% increase). The unit price at the retail market level was Rs.232 (13.4% increase).
The Fishery Resources Assessment Division of the ICAR- CMFRI estimated the annual marine fish landings of the country through its online data collection system. Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Director of CMFRI, Dr P Pravin, Assistant Director General of ICAR, Dr T V Sathianandan, Dr K Sunil Mohamed, Dr G Maheshwarudu, Dr P U Zacharia, Dr Prathibha Rohit and Dr C Ramachandran were present on the news conference.