Over the past four and half decades of planned development, the Indian fisheries has metamorphosed from a traditional, subsistence activity into an industry. Fisheries sector has made significant contributions to the Indian economy by way of augmenting production of animal protein, employment and income generation, and foreign exchange earnings
In spite of its various achievements, the full potential of our country's fisheries resources have not been realized yet. While the progress made in some areas like aquaculture, near shore fisheries, etc. is commendable, others like open-water fisheries and deep-sea fisheries resources have hardly been exploited. Post-GATT era is likely to globalize fisheries and there by bring in not only huge investments, technology, etc. to Indian fisheries, but also fears and problems of displacement of traditional and artisanal fisheries, pollution and other associated maladies common to commercialization. Further, the unprecedented growth in aquaculture activities, particularly prawn farming, has invited many problems which are beginning to assume alarming proportions.
All this calls for altogether different developmental strategies incorporating such measures as sustainability, eco-friendliness, social audit, etc. for more rigorous but pollution free exploitation of the limitless Indian fisheries potential. The immediate input to achieve this, perhaps, is not the technology, neither the finance, but the trained and qualified manpower force to pilot Indian fisheries into the 21 st century. Thus, the human resource development issues occupy top priority in the nation's agenda on fisheries development during the coming decades.
It is in this changing national perspective of fisheries, that the Central Institute of Fisheries Education has identified its own perspective in terms of the following plans of action for the ensuing 25 years: |
