MUMBAI: Fish catch in Maharashtra rose for the second year in a row, going up by 24.3% from 1.7 lakh tonnes in 2022 to 2.11 lakh tonnes in 2023, according to data from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI). The continued increase in catch followed several years of decline, caused in part by Covid-related disruptions.

Mumbai’s harbours contributed most to the state’s harvest (33.9%), swapping places with Raigad (21.1%), which was first the previous year.The rise in state catch was part of an overall surge in the northwest led by Gujarat, which saw a 63.7% increase in catch to 8.23 lakh tonnes, allowing it to reclaim the top spot in the country after a gap of several years. Goa and Daman & Diu also saw increases in catch of 16.8% and 23.2%, respectively, though the numbers are much smaller.
By contrast, southern and eastern states saw a decline in catch, causing all-India catch to increase only slightly from 3.49 million tonnes in 2022 to 3.53 million tonnes last year. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands was included for the first time in the assessment. Its catch was estimated to be a little over 18,000 tonnes.
Maharashtra’s share of the country’s catch was the fifth largest, at 5.98%. Catch of lesser sardines saw a three-fold jump in landings to 13,000 tonnes, while Indian mackerel doubled to 43,000 tonnes. Mackerel was also the top catch in the country, followed by ribbon fish and non-penaeid prawns.
The state’s Indian oil sardine catch declined by 62%, following a bumper year, but high annual variability is typical for this fish stock.
Oil sardines, or taarla in Marathi, are small fish that travel in large shoals relatively close to shore and can be scooped up in vast quantities. They are most abundant in southwest India.
Mechanised purse seiners were the major contributor of catch in Maharashtra, followed by multiday trawl nets and mechanised dol nets. By comparison, Gujarat’s catch expansion was driven by trawlers.
Kerala came in after Gujarat with 6.33 lakh tonnes, followed by Karnataka at 6.04 lakh tonnes and Tamil Nadu with 5.65 lakh tonnes. The big drop in Tamil Nadu’s catch — down one and a half lakh tonnes from 2022 — was partly due to cyclonic storm Michaung in November and December, which cut the number of fishing days, the report said. Despite the decline in the southern states, the maximum landings were in the southwest coast with 1.3 million tonnes (37%), followed by 1.12 million tonnes (32%) in the northwest. The northwest region accounted for an increase in the total landings of nearly 3.78 lakh tonnes, the report said.