The World Ocean Day is over on 8 June, but it is time to take stock of our ecosystem of fishing and marine aquaculture. Thanks to the 11,098 km long coastline of India and a multitude of rivers and other domestic water bodies, fishing contributes to almost 1.1 percent of our GDP. More than 30 million resources of existence depend on fishing. We exported seafoods worth £ 60.523.89 crore in 2023-24.
Lean livelihood, not a large business
Yet a large part of the Indian fishing economy remains tied up in self -provision mode. For most fishermen, income stagnation and volatility remain persistent challenges. Industrialization in this sector is negligible and the value chain remains fragmented and unorganized.
Compare this with the promotion on start-ups and MSMEs. Targeted interventions such as Startup India, Mudra loans and dedicated incubators have unleashed a wave of innovation. In production, MSMEs accounts for 30 percent of GDP and they employ more than 110 million people. Start-ups have become unicorns. However, the campaign in fishing is almost negligible.
The question is – how can we enable these millions of fishermen to become entrepreneurial?
Fish FPOs and cooperatives: aggregation as the first step
The transformation from fishermen to “fish companies” starts with aggregation. Just as the producer organizations of Farmer (FPOs) have changed the landscape of agriculture, Fish FPOs (or FFPOs) can enable collective negotiations, lower input costs and offer a platform for scaling up activities. However, making FFPOs is only the beginning.
Capacity building for fishing and FFPOs: a strong basis needed
Having strong professional management at the top is crucial. Training the VISRREGEURS on value addition, evolving customer requirements (especially in the export market), sustainable fishing aqua culture practices, digital developments, etc., is crucial to help them scales.
If there can be one digital platform for fishermen to be trained and gain access to all the schemes for which they are eligible, get information about market coupling, weather warnings, etc., would make their lives a lot easier. With digital records of their activities it would be possible to make credit and digital payments more effective.
Value addition can lead to value multiplication
Small fishermen often sell raw fish at local ports for disposable prices. Imagine that they can clean the catch, fillet, freeze smoking, marinating and packaging are other options. Community-based mini-processing units, solar dryers for fish, ice plants and explosion freezers can radically improve the economy of fish.
Fishing with low value can be converted into fishmeal, fish oil or local delicacies, which improves their marketability and returns. The export of the shrimp can only grow up to almost $ 10 billion with more processing as ready-made items.
Some FPOs and self -help groups (SHGs) have successfully made and sold products such as fish pickles, dry fishing powder and shrimp chops. These examples must be institutionalized and scaled.
Apart from traditional processing, it is possible to make technology-as traceability based on blockchain-also the Fish Farmers help to earn a premium.
Need a strong infrastructure
Whether it is about selling raw fish, or for processing, the fish farmers and FFPos need basic cold chains, processing units and transport equipment that are aimed at safe storage of marine items. Setting up coastal and inner hubs with shared access to cold chains, processing units, quality test laboratories and packaging facilities can be enormous help.
Financing: Large limitation to make an important enabler
First, to really make a push for increased and added value exports, more subsidies and incentives must be provided to FFPOs. More subsidies are needed to stimulate innovation in this space and to support entrepreneurs at an early stage.
However, the current reality is that access to working capital itself remains a limitation. Credit flow to fishing is impeded by lack of collateral, irregular cash flows and weak documentation. A targeted blue entrepreneurial credit guarantee scheme – Akin for the CGTMSE for MSMEs – can enable banks to borrow without fear. Digital credit scores Using catches, e-logs and GPS data can offer innovative ways to endorse the risk.
There are already many schedules. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) supports cold infrastructure, including fish; Production-linked Incentive (PLI) schedules include fish processing; The Pradhan Mantri formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme supports Agri processing and calls some districts specifically as FOCUSED, as part of one district one product (ODOP) program. However, these schedules have not seen full saturation in the market. There is a clear need for awareness development and adoption promotion activities.
All in all: policy convergence
The government must again look at all existing regulations and policy for fish farmers. They have to coordinate PMMSY to schedules in MSME, Startup India, PLI, PMFME, Blue Economy, etc. to guarantee an integrated development of fish and aquaculture economy.
Conclusion: from Net to Networth
It is time to shift our gaze – from the ocean as a source of survival to a platform for prosperity. Fishermen are not only beneficiaries of help; They are potential entrepreneurs, traders, exporters and innovators. But for them to jump from nets to the net value, we have to build the scaffolding by credit, skills, aggregation and technology.
The author is director – agricultural and climate practice, primus partners.
Published on June 14, 2025
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