Impact of Science and Technology on Indian

Fisheries Sector

Fisheries sector, a sunrise sector in India, has recorded a faster growth than that of crop and livestock sectors. The sector contributes to the livelihood of a large section of economically-underprivileged population of the country. It has been recognized as a powerful income and employment generator as it stimulates growth of a number of subsidiary industries and is a source of cheap and nutritious food besides being a foreign exchange earner. With the changing consumption pattern, emerging market forces and technological developments, it has assumed added importance in India. It is undergoing rapid transformation and the policy support, production strategies, public investment in infrastructure, and research and extension for fisheries have significantly contributed to the increased fish production. Particularly, after the mid-1980s, the development of carp polyculture technology has completely transformed this traditional backyard activity into a booming commercial enterprise.

Fish Production in the World and in India

Approximately 50 million people worldwide depend on fishing for all or most of their family earnings, while another 150 million depend on fish processing and the fleet servicing industry. More than 10 million work on 2.5 million small-scale fishing vehicles and account for 50% of the world’s catch (FAO 2001).

Fish production in the world rose from 23.50 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 140.48 million tonnes in 2003-04. Correspondingly, fish production in India has touched 6.40 million tonnes in 2003-04 from a mere 0.75 million tonnes in 1950-1951 (Table 1). The total fish production of our country stood at 6.87 million tonnes in 2006-07. The share of India in global fish production has grown gradually from about 2.66% during the 1960s and 1970s to 4.56% in 2003-04.

Table 1: Fish Production in World and India, 1950-51 to 2003-04 (Million tonnes)

Year	World	% change	India	% change	India’s share
1950-51	23.50	-	0.75	-	3.19
1960-61	43.60	85.53	1.16	54.67	2.66
1970-71	66.20	51.83	1.76	51.72	2.66
1980-81	72.30	9.21	2.44	38.64	3.37
1990-91	98.26	35.91	3.84	57.38	3.91
2000-01	129.00	32.35	5.66	47.40	4.39
2003-04	140.48	8.90	6.40	13.07	4.56
2006-07*	--	--	6.87	--	--

Source:

1. ICAR-ICLARM Project on ‘Strategies and Options for Increasing and Sustaining Fisheries and Aquaculture Production to Benefit Poor Households in India, 2004 and Economic survey 2006-07, GOI

2. *Annual Report 2006-07 Provisional Estimates

Table1 shows that growth in fish production in India has been at a faster rate than in the world; mainly due to increasing contribution from inland fisheries. It can also be seen in Figure 1 that in the pre-WTO period of 1990-91, the share of India’s fisheries was 3.90, which rose to 4.56 in the post-WTO period of 2003-04. Overall, the share of developing world in the total world fish production increased from 43% in 1973 to about 73% in 1997 (Figure 2), which has been mainly due to the increasing contribution from countries like China and India (Delgado et al, 2003).

Fig 1: India’s Share in World Fish Production

Fig 2: Changing Share of Developing Countries in the Production of Fish for Food, 1973 and 1997

Contribution to Indian Economy and Prospects of Fisheries Growth

With fisheries sector comprising marine fisheries, freshwater and brackish water aquaculture and inland fisheries consisting of tanks and reservoir, the potentiality of this sector as a whole remains to be fully tapped and it remains a sector of much promise. The fisheries sector in particular is more complex enterprise that functions under integrated network of natural resources, other enterprises with forward and backward linkages with fisheries and other socio-political variables. The major functions of fisheries enterprises, viz. production, transportation, storage and processing involve value addition from labour, capital and management, which significantly influence the rapid economic development of the country.

In the last 25 years, unlike agriculture, the contribution of fisheries sector to GDP continued to grow at a rapid pace because of expansion of culture fisheries enterprise. The share of agriculture and allied activities in the total GDP is constantly declining. It was 34.69% in 1980-81 and declined gradually to 17.62% in 2004-05. In contrast, the contribution of fisheries sector to the total GDP has gone up from 0.75% in 1980-81 to 1.04 in 2004-05 (at current prices).

Similarly, the share of fisheries in agriculture GDP (AgGDP) has increased robustly from 2.17% in 1980-81 to 5.93% in 2004-05 (Table 2). This sector is in fact pushing the agricultural growth upward for the past 5 and half decades.

Table 2: Comparison and Growth of Fisheries Sector

Period	Percent contribution of
Period	Agriculture to Total GDP	Fish to Total GDP	Fish to Ag GDP
1980-81	34.69	0.75	2.17
1990-91	28.42	0.96	3.37
2000-01	22.26	1.18	5.32
2004-05	17.62	1.04	5.93

Source: National Account Statistics, CSO, GOI

Fish Production: Structure and Composition

The fish production in India witnessed a spectacular growth since independence. It rose from a mere 0.75 million tonnes in 1950-51 to over 6.57 million tonnes in 2005-06 (Table 3). In the initial years, marine sector used to contribute more to total fish production then inland sector. In 1950-51, marine production contributed about 71.01%, which fell gradually to 42.77% in 2005-06, while inland sector started contributing from 28.99 in 1950-51 to about 57.23% in 2005-06. In fact, by the year 2000, its share crossed 50% and continues to improve its share further in the coming years.

Table 3: Fish Production by Source in India

Year	Fish production (Mt)
Year	Marine	Inland	Total
1950-51	0.534	0.218	0.752
1960-61	0.880	0.280	1.160
1970-71	1.086	0.670	1.756
1980-81	1.555	0.887	2.442
1990-91	2.300	1.536	3.836
2000-01	2.811	2.845	5.656
2003-04	2.941	3.458	6.399
2004-05	2.779	3.526	6.305
2005-06	2.816	3.756	6.572

Expansion of fleet capacity, technological innovation, and increases in investment all led to explosive growth in the exploitation of marine fisheries through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. But from the late 90s onwards, the marine fisheries production reached a plateau and it seems that it can register only marginal increase in the near future. With most wild fisheries near maximum sustainable exploitation levels, capture fisheries will most likely grow slowly.

On the other hand, inland fish production was on constant rise. The inland fisheries include both capture and culture fisheries. The capture fisheries have been the major sources of inland fish production till mid-1980s. But the fish production from natural waters like rivers, lakes, etc. followed a declining trend, primarily, due to proliferation of water control structures such as dams and habitat degradation due to human interference and settlement near and surrounding water bodies (Katiha and Bhatta, 2002). The depleting resources, energy crisis and resultant high cost of fishing etc. have led to increased realization of the potential and versatility of aquaculture as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to capture fisheries.

Trends and Current Patterns of Fish Production

To assess the trend of fish production in the country, the last 25 years data (from 1980-81 to 2005-06) was used. Both linear and non-linear trend analysis was tried and the best equation fitted. The total fish production in India has been following a linear trend (Figure 3) and it is likely proceed further in the same direction. The trend pattern of marine and inland fish production revealed that while the marine sector’s production was increasing at a decreasing rate, the inland sector’s production was increasing at an increasing rate, the possible reasons for which are that inland aquaculture activities are gaining much importance in some of the states like Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab etc. in recent years. The trend equations for both marine and inland fish production, as well as for total fish production are given below:

Marine: Y = -2.7588X² + 143.4X + 1061.3

Inland: Y = 2.9078X²+ 38.083X +824.85

Total: Y = 185.5X +1867.4

Fig 3: Trend in Fish Production, 1980-81 to 2005-06

Based on the trend observed in the last 25 years, assuming that the same scenario would prevail in both public and private investment pattern in the sector, the fish production of the country would reach 7.46, 8.42 and 9.38 million tonnes in 2010, 2015 and 2020 respectively (Table 4).

Table 4: Fish Production in 2020

Year	(in million tones)
Year	Marine	Inland	Total
2010	2.88 (38.61)	4.58 (61.37)	7.46
2015	2.70 (32.07)	5.72 (67.33)	8.42
2020	2.38 (25.37)	7.00 (74.63)	9.38

Note: Parentheses indicates percentage to total

In the coming decades, aquaculture will likely be the greatest source of increased fish production, as fish farmers expand the water surface area under cultivation and increase yields per unit of area cultivated. But the sector must overcome several major challenges, if it has to sustain the rapid growth of the past 25 years:

Aquaculture has to face competition from others users of land and water, as these resources would become more scarce in future (Rosegrant et al, 2002)
Marine sector would face energy crisis, as it would need more fossil fuels for further expansion
The aquaculture production would be restrained by diseases as the sector expands (Subasinghe, et al, 2001)
The availability of fish meal, fish oil and wild caught trash fish as feed inputs may also become a limiting factor.

Yield increases can come either from increased inputs or greater efficiency of inputs. It is likely that in the next several decades, aquaculture production will benefit from both these sources of yield growth. Greater use of compounded aquaculture feeds along with improvements in rearing technology and selective breeding has the potential to significantly increase the productivity of many forms of aquaculture.

In the last 25 years, total fish production has been growing at an annual growth rate of about 4.60%, in which marine sector was growing at a rate of 3.24 and inland sector was growing at a rate of 6.20%.

Table 5: Compound Growth Rate in Fish Production, 1980-81 to 2005-06

Year	Marine	Inland	Total
1980-81 to 1989-90	3.80	5.28	4.39
1990-91 to 1999-00	2.33	6.55	4.13
2000-01 to 2005-06	-0.21	5.37	2.75
1980-81 to 2005-06	3.24	6.20	4.60
1980-81 to 1980-91 (Pre-WTO)	4.35	5.43	4.78
1991-92 to 2005-06 (Post-WTO)	0.84	5.71	3.18

Overall, inland sector fared better in all the periods, viz. 1980-81 to 1989-90, 1990-91 to 1999-00 and 2000-01 to 2005-06. There seems to be a slower pace in growth of this sector in the recent times. In contrast, marine sector witnessed a negative growth rate in the period 2000-01 and 2005-06, which indicates the exhaustion of marine resources especially in the in-shore and near-shore waters, where maximum harvesting has been carried out. About 90% of the present production from the marine sector is within a depth range of up to 50-70 m and the remaining 10% from depths extending upto 200m. While 93% of the production is contributed by artisanals and motorized sectors, the remaining 7% is contributed by deep sea fishing fleets confining their operation mainly to the shrimp grounds in the upper east coast. Hence, in order to enhance and sustain the contribution from this sector, we need to go into the deep sea for targeting its untapped potential. This requires enhanced investment in mechanized vessels, capacity strengthening of artisanals and probably a proper institutional structure to share the benefits.

The growth rates in pre and post-WTO periods were also estimated. It is noticed that the pre-WTO period witnessed an impressive growth rate of about 4.78 as compared to post WTO period (3.18). This trend was mainly due to the marine sector, which is understandable by the fact that the country’s fish export basket was dominated by marine species and buoyance of marine export might have propelled the growth of marine catch, and vice versa. The post-WTO period imposed many quality regulations in terms of SPS measures on developing countries like India, which couldn’t create huge investment in the infrastructures required to produce export-quality marine fisheries products that are acceptable to our trading partners, especially EU, USA and Japan. In contrast to the marine sector, inland sector continued to grow better in the post-WTO period also, which is possibly because of enhanced public and private investment in inland fisheries sector especially though different development programmes and research by the Government of India since IV^th plan, that started delivering results continuously.

Figure 4 clearly depicts the dominance of inland fisheries sector in the contribution to total fish of the country, particularly from 1990s.

Fig 4: Annual Growth Rate (%) in Fish Production, 1980-81 to 2005-06

Growth of Fisheries Sector in Different States of India

The growth rate analysis for various states from 1990-81 to 2005-06 showed that fish production had a significant growth in all states and Union Territories except Goa, Karnataka and Tripura in case of states and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry in case of Union Territories, respectively. In some of the states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal the growth of inland fisheries was found to be higher than that of marine fisheries. But in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, marine fisheries growth was observed to be more than that of inland fisheries, though the latter is negative and non-significant (Table 6).

Table 6: Growth Rate of Fish Production by States, 1990-81 to 2005-06 (Per cent)

States	Inland	Marine	Total
Andhra Pradesh	13.01*	4.92*	10.03*
Arunachal Pradesh	5.11*	--	5.11*
Assam	3.36*	--	3.36*
Bihar	4.88*	--	4.88*
Goa	13.01*	1.19^NS	1.24^NS
Gujarat	-0.13^NS	1.16***	1.08***
Haryana	3.19*	--	3.19*
Himachal Pradesh	1.66*	--	1.66*
Jammu & Kashmir	2.64*	--	2.64*
Karnataka	3.52**	-0.66^NS	0.71^NS
Kerala	5.92*	1.04*	1.48*
Madhya Pradesh	10.73*	--	10.73*
Maharashtra	5.23*	1.63**	2.33*
Manipur	4.73*	--	4.73*
Meghalaya	5.15*	--	5.15**
Mizoram	1.82**	--	1.82**
Nagaland	12.01*	--	12.01*
Orissa	5.22*	1.58***	3.59*
Punjab	14.02*	--	14.02*
Rajasthan	5.22*	--	5.22*
Sikkim	2.82*	--	2.82*
Tamil Nadu	2.66*	0.90***	1.40*
Tripura	0.08^NS	--	0.08^NS
Uttar Pradesh	7.35*	--	7.35*
West Bengal	4.42*	1.96*	4.01*
A& N Islands	0.68^NS	0.67^NS	0.68^NS
Dadra & Nagar Haveli	1.15^NS	--	1.15^NS
Daman & Diu	--	2.17^NS	2.17^NS
Delhi	-6.41*	--	-6.41*
Lakshadweep	--	2.76**	2.76**
Puducherry	1.68^NS	-0.56^NS	-0.33^NS

Note: * Significant at 1%, * *Significant at 5%, ***Significant at 10% and NS Non-significant

1. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar include Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, respectively.

2. Growth rates for A&N Islands and Dadra & Nagar Haveli calculated for the period 1991-92 to2005-06 and 1992-93 to 2005-06, respectively.

(i) Share of States in Marine Fish Production: The share of various states in the country’s total marine production was analyzed and its composition is presented for the year 1990-91 and 2005-06 to understand the changing share of various states in this crucial export oriented sector (Figure 5).

Fig 5: Changing Share of States in Marine Production, 1990-91 & 2005-06

In 1990-91, Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka together contributed about 81 % in the total marine production. In the last one and half decades, the share of Kerala and Tamil Nadu reduced, while that of Gujarat and Maharashtra increased. But, the one state that has been increasing at a rapid pace in marine production is Andhra Pradesh, which replaced Karnataka in its share to total production in the last 15 years. Among others states, which are contributing significantly to total marine production, are West Bengal and Orissa and among UTs, the major contributors are Puducherry, and Andaman Nicobar islands, though their current production is stagnating in the recent years.

It is reasonably known that marine fisheries are probably near the ceiling of the potential. However, scientific opportunities may exist in area like mariculture of filter feeders. But, the development of this sector is beset with major management problems. It is facing the problem of influx of sewage water and other pollutants causing health hazards. Yet another problem faced relates to global warming. The marine fisheries also have to bear large-scale destruction of juvenile fishes. Hence, institutionalization of conservatory and regulatory/control measures are important.

(ii) Share of States in Inland Fish Production: The share of various states in the country’s total inland fish production was analyzed and its composition was presented for the year 1990-91 and 2005-06 to understand the dynamics of this sector in contributing to total fish production (Figure 6).

Fig 6: Changing Share of States in Inland Production, 1990-91 & 2005-06

In the year 1990-91, the major producing states were West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. They together contributed about 68% to total inland fish production. In the subsequent one and half decades, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh made tremendous progress in their share of total inland production compared to West Bengal, which is fast loosing its dominance in this sector to these emerging states. While the other major contributor like Bihar has decreased in its share, Orissa was maintaining it in total inland production. Another major state, whose contribution is improving rapidly, is Punjab. Apart from these, the states which are reaching a point of maximum output are Assam, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Some states were also experiencing negative growth in their production and they are Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Again the promising UT in inland production is Puducherry.

Investment in Fisheries Sector

Fisheries Development : Allocation of funds to a particular sector is an indication of a push given for development of the sector. The outlay for fisheries sector was about 5.13 in the I^st Five Year Plan and it went to 2060.54 crores in the X plan (Table 7).

Table 7: Investment on Fisheries Development (Rs. crores)

Plan	Total	Agriculture	Fisheries
I	1960	294	5.13
II	4600	529	12.26
III	7500	1068	28.27
IV	15902	2728	82.68
V	39322	4302	151.24
VI	97500	6609	371.14
VII	218730	12793	546.54
VIII	434100	22467	1232.82
IX	859200	42462	2070.00
X	1525639	58933	2060.54

Its share in the total plan outlay was hovering from 0.26% in I Plan to 0.52% in IV Plan and decreasing thereafter continuously and it received only 0.14% of total outlays in X Plan; in spite of that the sector has been growing at an annual growth rate of about 5% in the last 2¹/2decades. Similarly, its share in agricultural outlay has increased from 1.74% in I Plan to 5.62% in VI Plan and it is slowly declining sine then and is about 3.50% in X plan.

However, the status of fisheries sub-sector is better, when compared to that of agricultural sector as a whole. Because, the percent allocation to agricultural sector in the total plan outlay started decling from IV Five Year Plan onwards and is continuously decreasing further, which is a great concern for the sector's overall growth. It's share in I Plan was about 15.00% and it went upto 17.16% in IV plan and is now only 3.86% in X Plan (Figure 2.13). Considering the general importance given to agricultural sector, the preference received by the fisheries sub-sector in the plan outlays is still reasonable.

Fisheries Research: Fisheries sector witnessed a spectacular growth of over 800% in last 5 and half decades of planning & development for which technologies are the main drivers of growth. At present, fisheries research is carried out by a huge network of institutes under different organizations, viz. ICAR, SAUs, CSIR, DOD, DST, DBT, UGC, IITs, IIMs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Food Processing Industries (Mofpi), several voluntary agencies / private industries etc. Most of the productivity enhancing technologies have largely come from the research investment made by ICAR/ DARE, which is the main agency responsible for developing & disseminating the technically feasible, economically viable & environmentally sustainable technologies for the development of agricultural & allied sectors, including fisheries in our country.

The outlay for fisheries research in total agricultural research has grown from 2.7% in IV Five Year Plan to 6 % in IX Five year Plan, though it again dropped to 3.1% in X Plan (Table 8). Overall, this showed the increasing importance accorded to this sector to exploit the still under-exploited areas.

Table 8: Investment on Fisheries Research by ICAR (Rs. crores)

Plan	ICAR / DARE	Fisheries	% to Total
IV	85	2.25	2.6
V	153.56	9.6	6.3
VI	340	15.75	4.6
VII	448	18.25	4.0
VIII	1300	65	5.0
IX	2070	125	6.0
X	5050	157.14	3.1

Source: Planning Commission GoI 2001 & ICAR Report 2005-06

Investment in Fisheries Development vis-a-vis Research: The allocation for fisheries development rose from Rs. 82.68 crores in IV Plan to Rs. 2060.54 crores in X Plan, while that for fisheries research increased from Rs. 2.25 crores to Rs. 157.14 crores during the same period (Figure 7). Among the two major sub-sectors of fisheries sector, it was found that the importance accorded to research is more than that of development over different plan periods. It is also found that the share of research allocation rose from 3% in IV Plan to about 7% in X Plan. It shows the increasing importance accorded to research over development programmes by the Government, as the planners are convinced that the technologies are driving the growth in this sector, which needs to be nurtured to achieve the desired 4% growth in agriculture in the XI Plan.

Fig 7: Investment in Fisheries Development vis-a-vis Research

Returns from Investment in Fisheries Research and Development: It was found that the investment on both fisheries research and development would be financially feasible and beneficial to the society. It was evidenced by an earlier study conducted by ICAR and World Fish Centre (Table 9) that the net present value (NPV) was estimated to be Rs. 82 to 176 billion under various TFP scenarios. The internal rate of return (IRR) from investment would be in the range of 42 to 55 percent. The benefit-cost ratio would vary between 2.1 and 3.4.

Table 9: Returns to Investment on Fisheries Technology in India

Parameters	Baseline Scenario (Existing TFP growth)	Deceleration by 2015 (25%)	Deceleration by 2015 (50%)	Deceleration by 2015 (75%)
IRR (%)	55	52	48	42
NPV (Rs. billion)	176	149	119	82
B:C Ratio	3.4	3.0	2.6	2.1

Source: ICAR-ICLARM Project Report, 2004

Note: Existing TFP growth: Marine sector: 2.0; Aquaculture: 4.0

Drivers for Future Growth

To sustain this growth of the sector in general; technology, infrastructure and market would play a major role apart from enhanced investment in research and development. Technology had been the main factor responsible for the phenomenal growth of aquaculture, particularly after the advent of carp polyculture and composite fish culture in the late 70s. Similarly, major investments on infrastructure such as construction of mini harbors, jetties, landing centers, introduction of trawlers and mechanized vessels, supply of nets, etc. led to increased catch and contribution from capture fisheries sector. However, market has not been able to play the role of a major driver for the growth of the sector so far. To un-tap the potential of the sector, market should take the lead in furthering the growth, especially in the emergence of aquaculture sector. Some of the illustrative aspects under each major driving force are given below for future attention:

Technology

Quality seed production
Selective breeding of carps
Formulation of low cost feed materials using locally available ingredients
Fabrication of nets for targeted fishing

Infrastructure

Construction of landing centers in second tier potential costal towns
Creation of cold storage near landing centers
Up-gradation of manually operated boats into outboard motorized ones
Supply of ice box

Market Creation of domestic markets

Creation of institutional structures like marketing societies with fishermen/fish-farmers as members
Creation of cold storage facilities
Transportation of fish and fishery products by refrigerated containers from point of landing/production to consumption centers
Documentation of innovative market models already existing in the sector and replicating in similar areas with support from both Govt. and non-governmental agencies
Grading, Standardization and Branding of fish and fishery products
Creation of Market Information System with the application of ICT tools.

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