The Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan informed the Lok Sabha Tuesday on the status of marine fish production in the country. It has been clear from his replies that despite best of efforts govt have not been able to achieve any breakthrough in marine fish production.
The marine fish production in the country stands at 35.83 lakh tonnes (Provisional) in 2015-16 against the potential yield of 44.12 lakh tonnes estimated for the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), said Balyan in the House.
He blamed host of factors such as high fishing pressure, changes in fishing gear dimensions, over capacity, pollution, environmental factors, climate change etc.
Readers would note that a committee has been constituted last year under the chairmanship of Dr. S. Ayyappan, former Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to ascertain the present status of exploitation of marine fishery resources by various sectors, namely, traditional sector, mechanized boats sector and deep-sea fishing vessels.