India has formally started the development phase of a national action plan for small-scale inland fisheries, but the policy itself has not yet been finalised. The Department of Fisheries launched the process on 23 October after a two-day workshop in Bhopal, setting the work on a path towards consultations with fishing communities and other stakeholders.
The proposed National Plan of Action is intended to cover freshwater fisheries rather than marine fishing. It is being developed by the Union Department of Fisheries with the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation, under the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Workshop sets the development framework
The Bhopal meeting brought together fisheries institutions and stakeholders to identify priorities and prepare a framework for the activities in the development phase. That framework includes a proposed consultation programme, rather than a completed set of rules or commitments.
The Department said the process focuses on improving livelihoods, strengthening coordination and managing freshwater resources more effectively. At this stage, the workshop has set a route for developing those aims through consultation rather than decided the final choices for individual water bodies or communities.
Officials said the future plan is expected to address fishing rights and resource management, employment and decent work, gender equality, value chains, post-harvest trade, disaster risks and climate change. Those are areas for the plan to consider as it is developed; they are not yet measures in force.
The work is intended to apply across a wide range of inland waters, including rivers, canals, reservoirs, lakes, floodplain wetlands, tanks and cold-water systems. The range reflects the varied environments in which inland fishing takes place across India, as well as the different conditions facing communities that depend on them.
Livelihoods and freshwater management
Abhilaksh Likhi, the Fisheries Secretary, said the proposed plan should translate into practical improvements in livelihoods and should strengthen value chains to improve fishers’ incomes. He also said sustainability needed to remain central as climate pressures and deteriorating water quality affect inland fisheries.
Likhi said India had recorded annual fish production of 19.7 million tonnes, with inland fisheries contributing about three-quarters of that total. He added that the country was targeting 30 million tonnes of fish production over the next five years, while expecting seafood exports to rise to Rs 1.25 lakh crore. Those figures are government targets and assessments, not outcomes of the new action-plan process.
Dr P Krishnan, director of the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation, said the development phase was expected to consider resilience to disaster risks and climate change alongside rights, work and trade. The inclusion of those themes sets a broad direction for consultation, but it does not settle how they will be reflected in the final document.
Consultations still to come
The Department of Fisheries said the plan will now be finalised through stakeholder consultations before a public launch planned for next month, followed by implementation. No final action plan, implementation timetable or new requirement for fishing communities was announced at the Bhopal workshop.
The practical significance of the 23 October announcement is therefore the formal start of a national policy-development process. Its eventual effect on livelihoods, freshwater management and fishing practices will depend on the consultation stage, the final text and the way any resulting measures are implemented.
