KOCHI: Marine fish landing in the country has shown a drastic fall of 5.3 per cent to 3.40 million ton in 2015 compared to 3.50 million ton in the previous year.
The oil sardines, a mainstay of traditional fishermen in Kerala, Karnataka and Goa, recorded the sharpest fall of 51 per cent to 2.66 lakh compared with 5.45 lakh ton in 2014, according to the data released by the Kochi-based Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute on Saturday.
The rise in the temperature of sea water due to El Nino and over exploitation are the main reasons for the drastic fall in the oil sardines, according to CMFRI scientists.
Releasing the data CMFRI director A. Gopalakrishnan and other senior scientists said that the CMFRI has done a special review of the situation of the alarming fall in oil sardine in view of its implication on the livelihood of fishermen community.
Seafood exporters expressed concern over the fall in the marine fish landing and said that it represents a difficult situation for the $6 billion seafood export industry.
Representatives fishing community during their interactive session with scientists expressed the hope that scientists will study specificities linked depletion of resources.
Gujarat recorded 7.21 lakh tonnes of catch, the biggest volume among the states with Tamil Nadu emerging as a close second with 7.09 lakh tonnes.
Gujarat and Tamil Nadu accounted for 21. 2 per cent and 20.8 per cent respectively of the total fish landings.
Kerala with 14.2 per cent was in the third position with total catch of 4.82 lakh tonnes. CMFRI scientists said marine fish resources were showing a downward trend after the high of 2012 when fish landings stood at 3.94 million ton.
The total catch dropped four per cent in 2013 and five per cent in 2014. The increase in the price of fish in the domestic market however has seen the value of the retail fish market registering an increase of nearly 31 per cent to Rs 65,180 crore during 2015.
