Fisheries Sector in Kerala: Emerging Issues and Policy Responses

The present paper discusses the status of the fisheries sector in Kerala with emphasis on emerging issues and policy responses. In Kerala, still, the traditional fishermen dominate the field although in recent times the State has been witnessing the emergence of a dual structure with the traditional sector on the one side and the modern fishing sector on the other. There has been a mismatch between fish production and consumption in the State. The fishermen's per capita income growth has been volatile in the State while the per capita income of an average Keralite has almost remained stable. Marine fish production forms the major share of total fish production in the State. It is obvious that at the all India level, the overall fish production registered a remarkable increase from 107.62 lakh tones in 2015-16 to 137.5 lakh tonnes in 2019-20, a growth of over 30 per cent. But at the same time, Kerala’s fish production did not make a substantial improvement which is evident from the fact in 2019-20, its fish production actually declined to 6.8 lakh tones from 7.27 lakh tones in 2015-16. Climate changes, oceanic plastic waste, infrastructural bottlenecks, the vulnerability of fishermen have been identified as emerging issues.