India’s Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying has launched the first-ever digitized National Marine Fisheries Census (MFC).
The census, according to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), will cover 1.2 million different fisher households across 4,000 villages in India over the next 45 days. The India Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying called the new census a “paradigm shift” for data collection, which historically has been paper-based.
“This edition marks a major technological shift as the first fully digitised data collection in the history of Indian fisheries,” Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri George Kurian said.
Kurian launched the census on 31 October, and said the first step will be to ensure all fishers and fish workers are registered on the country’s National Fisheries Digital Platform.
“This is a mandatory requirement to access benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY). Only fishermen and fish farmers who are registered on the portal will be eligible to receive financial assistance from the Central government,” Kurian said.
The census is a coast-wide activity funded by the Department of Fisheries, Government of India, and the CMFRI. The latest MFC will be the fifth edition of the census, and provides the government with household-level information on fishers, fishing crafts, fishing gear, and infrastructure across the nation’s harbors and processing facilities. The data will be gathered with the help of free mobile applications created for the census.
The ministry said the new digitized process will generate the most comprehensive, granula, and geo-referenced database of fisheries to date so that the country can create a “robust foundation for evidence-based planning.” Kurian said the government will be actively installing scientific equipment like transponders and turtle excluder devices for free, to benefit fishermen and the national industry.
“The scope of the MFC–2025 has been significantly expanded to capture a deep, granular understanding of the socio-economic status of the coastal population, ensuring future government interventions are more precise and impactful,” the ministry said.
J. Jayasankar, principal scientist and head of the Fishery Resources Assessment, Economics and Extension Division, told The New Indian Express that the manual survey used to take 30 days to complete but the new broader scope has necessitated the expansion to a 45-day survey from 3 November to 18 December.
The Ministry for Fisheries said the preparation for the latest census has been extensive, and included pre-census workshops and coordination meets with those involved.
