The estimated marine fish landings from all the maritime states and two union territories in the mainland of India for the year 2021 was 3.05 million tonnes and it showed an increase of about 11.8% compared to the landings in 2020 (2.73 million tonnes), which was still less by 14.4% in comparison to the landings in 2019, the last of pre-pandemic years (3.56 million tonnes).
Gujarat made it to the first position replacing Tamil Nadu, after a gap of two years, with 5.76 lakh tonnes accounting for 18.9% of the total landings in the country. Major marine fishery resources in 2021 landings were Lesser sardines at 2.26 lakh tonnes (7.4% of the national total); Scads with 2.14 lakh tonnes (7.0%); Indian mackerel recorded 2.13 lakh tonnes (7.0%); Penaeid prawns clocked 1.68 lakh tonnes (5.5%); and Cephalopods reached 1.56 lakh tonnes (5.13%). The major gainers in the landings in comparison to last year were Scads, Nonpenaeid prawns, and Threadfin breams.
The same trend was observed when compared to 2019, with Non-penaeid prawns replaced by Lesser sardines. The landings of Indian Oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) fell out of the top ten resources list, with only 0.87 lakh tonnes landed in 2021 (2.86% of the national total). The year 2021 witnessed a number of cyclonic storms in and around India, viz., Taukte and Yaas in May, Gulab in September, Shaheen in October and Jawad in December, which adversely affected the fishing days, apart from the reduction in the number of fishing days due to COVID-19 lockdown during the Delta wave. The number of fishing trips in the mechanized sector showed a declining trend over the last decade and recorded the lowest in 2021 over the last three decades.
More information is available at:
http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/16042/1/Marine%20Fish%20Landings%20in%20India%202021.pdf