World Ocean Day arrived on June 8, but it is time to take stock of our fishing and marine aquaculture ecosystem. Thanks to the coast of India of 11,098 km long, as well as a multitude of rivers and other bodies of inner water, contributions to fishing to almost 1.1 percent or our GDP. More than 30 million livelihoods depend on fishing. We export seafood worth ₹ 60,523.89 million rupees for 2023-24.
Miguero livelihood, not an important company
However, much of the fishing economy of India remains trapped in subsistence mode. For most fishermen, revenue stagnation and volatility remain persistent challenges. Industrialization in this sector is insignificant, and the value chain remains fragmented and disorganized.
Compare this with the action around new companies and MSME. Specific interventions such as the Indian startup, mudra loans and dedicated incubators have unleashed a wave of innovation. In manufacturing, MSMEs represent 30 percent of GDP and employ more than 110 million people. The new companies have become unicorns. However, fishing action is almost insignificant.
The question is: how can we allow millions of fishermen to become more entrepreneurs?
FPO and fish cooperatives: aggregation as the first step
The transformation of fishermen to “fish entrepreneurs” begins with aggregation. As well as farmers’ producer organizations (FPO) have changed the landscape of agriculture, FPO of fish (or FFPO) can allow collective bargaining, reduce input costs and provide a platform to expand operations. However, creating FFPO is simply the beginning.
Capacity construction for Fish Pre-Meurs and FFPO: You need a solid base
Having solid professional management at the top is fundamental. Educating fish on additional value, evolving customer demands (especially in the export market), sustainable fishing aquaculture practices, digital developments, etc., is essential to help them climb.
If there may be a digital platform for fishermen to train as access to all the schemes for which they are eligible, obtain information about the market link, weather alerts, etc., would greatly facilitate life. In addition, with digital records of their activities, enabling credit and digital payments would also be more effective.
The addition of value can lead to the multiplication of the value
Small fishermen or sell raw fish in local ports at discard prices. Imagine if they could clean, fille, freeze or dry the capture, extending the useful life and multiplying income. Smoking, marinating and packing are other possibilities. MINI processing units based on the community, solar dryers for fish, ice plants and explosion freezers can improve the fishing economy.
Low value fish can become fishmeal, fish oil or local delicacies, improving its marketing and yields. Shrimp exports by themselves could grow to almost $ 10 billion with more processing as ready -to -get items.
Some FPO and self -help groups (SHG) have successful and sold products such as fish pickups, dry fish dust and pawns chops. These examples must be institutionalized and scaled.
In addition to traditional processing, allowing technology such as blockchain-based traceability-it can also help fish fish to win a premium.
Need for strong infrastructure
Either to sell raw fish, or to process, fish and FFPS need basic cold chains, processing units and transport equipment oriented to marine items safely. Establish coastal and interior centers with shared access to cold chains, processing units, quality test laboratories and packaging facilities can be a great help.
Financing: an important restriction to be a great facilitator
First, to really promote incessive and value exports, more subsidies and incentives must be provisional to FFPO. More subsidies are needed to boost innovation in this space and support entrepreneurs of the initial stage.
However, the current reality is that access to working capital itself remains a restriction. Fishing credit flow is hindered by the lack of collateral, irregular cash flows and weak documentation. A blue entrepreneurship credit guarantee scheme directed by the CGTMSE for MSME – can allow banks to lend without fear. The digital credit score using capture records, e-logbooks and GPS data can sacrifice innovative ways to subscribe the risk.
Many schemes already exist. The Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) supports cold infrastructure, including fish; Production -linked incentive schemes (PLI) include fish processing; The Mantri Mantri formalization scheme of micro -food processing companies (PMFME) supports AGRI processing and is specifically mentioned as the focused fish program, as part of the One District One Product Program (Odop). However, these schemes have not seen total saturation in the market. There is a clear need for the development of awareness and adoption promotion activities.
Gather everything: policy convergence
The Government must be reimbursed in all existing schemes and policies for fish. They must align PMMSY with MSME schemes, Indian startup, PLI, PMFME, Blue Economy, etc. to guarantee the integrated development of the economy of fish and aquacultures.
Conclusion: from net to net-vorth
It is time to change our gaze, from the ocean as a source of survival to a prosperity platform. Fishermen are not only beneficiaries of help; They are potential entrepreneurs, merchants, exporters and innovatives. But to get out of networks to the network network, we must build credit, skunding, aggregation and technology.
The author is Managing Director – Practice of Agriculture and Climate, Primus Partners.
Posted on June 14, 2025
