Fishers’ Feedback Shapes Five-Year Roadmap for India’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector
SDG 2: Zero Hunger | SDG 14: Life Below Water
Institutions: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying
From April to September 2025, the Department of Fisheries (DoF) conducted extensive consultations engaging over 15,000 fishers and fish farmers across 34 States and UTs. The outreach aimed to align local realities with national policy goals for the next five years, ensuring the forthcoming roadmap reflects ground-level priorities.
Participants highlighted core needs-quality seed, affordable feed, localized feed mills, hatcheries, cold-chain and transport infrastructure, solar integration, and better market linkages. They also endorsed the government’s installation of transponders on fishing vessels that deliver Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) advisories, weather alerts, and boundary-violation warnings, improving both safety and productivity.
Insights gathered through this participatory process will feed into future reforms and funding strategies under the DoF’s five-year action framework for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture growth.
The consultations mark a significant step in embedding bottom-up policymaking within India’s Blue Economy framework. They complement schemes like PM Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) by ensuring new interventions address genuine field-level gaps in feed, cold chains, and digital access.
What is PFZ advisory via transponders? → Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) advisories use satellite-based ocean data to identify high-yield fishing areas. Transponders relay these in real time, helping fishers save fuel, reduce search time, and avoid maritime boundary breaches.
What is the Blue Economy? → The Blue Economy refers to the sustainable use of ocean, river, and coastal resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and environmental health. It matters because India’s vast coastline and inland waterways can generate jobs and food security while ensuring ecological balance.
What is PMMSY? → The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY, 2020) is a central scheme that promotes sustainable fisheries, aquaculture, and allied infrastructure through subsidies, innovation, and digital value-chain support. It matters because it targets doubling fishers’ income and expanding India’s share in global seafood exports.
What is FIDF? → The Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF, 2018) provides concessional finance for fishing harbours, cold chains, hatcheries, and aquaculture units. It matters because it bridges infrastructure gaps that limit productivity and post-harvest value in India’s fisheries sector.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How can the Department of Fisheries institutionalize year-round feedback loops so that sectoral plans and budget allocations continually adapt to evolving grassroots needs?
Follow the full news here: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2174726