Centre rolls out projects to boost fisheries in 7 coastal states

Mumbai, April 28 (IANS) Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh on Monday inaugurated and laid the foundation for key fisheries projects covering 7 coastal states and UTs with a total outlay of Rs 255 crore, under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).

Key initiatives like the 5th Marine Fisheries Census Operations, PMMSY Guidelines on Turtle Excluder Device, and the release of the Standard Operating Procedure for Vessel Communication and Support System were also launched at the Coastal States Fisheries Meet.

The Union Minister also distributed tablets enabled with Digital Application VyAS-NAV and awarded the first ever aqua insurance (one time incentive sanction-cum-release order) to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY) on this occasion.

The 5th Marine Census operation was kicked off which involves training of supervisors, recruitment and training village-wise data enumerators, followed by the actual census activity spread across three months. The entire operation will be completed by December 2025.

In a major preparatory step for India’s 5th Marine Fisheries Census (MFC 2025), mobile application VyAS-NAV has been launched for the digital based data collection with an aim to boost transparency and efficiency. Marking a shift from traditional method to a geo-referenced, app-based digital system, the MFC 2025 will cover a 1.2 million fisher households nationwide bringing in real-time validation.

VyAS-NAV was developed by the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), which is the nodal agency for implementing the marine fisheries census in nine coastal states. VyAS-NAV app will be used by supervisors for field verification of fishing villages, fish landing centres and fishing harbours.

This is a foundational step towards ensuring comprehensive coverage and accuracy of the census frame. This app has features to record a summary picture of villages based on primary and secondary sources. The supervisors are staff of the CMFRI, the Fishery Survey of India and the Fisheries Departments across the coastal states.

The Marine Fisheries Census (MFC) -2025 focuses on the exhaustive, precise, and timely documentation of every marine fisher family, fishing village, fishing craft and gear, as well as infrastructure facilities associated with fishing harbours and fish landing centres across the country.

Unlike in the past, customised mobile and tablet-based applications created by CMFRI will be used for data collection in a bid to reduce manual errors and accelerate data compilation for policy-level use.

These all form part of the Marine Fisheries Census will extend across 3,500 villages and 1.2 million households will be covered in this exercise at various points in time.

The operations span from April to December. The village list finalisation and landing centres data will be covered by staff of the CMFRI, the FSI and the DoF, and the same has started from Monday. The core activity, scheduled for November–December 2025, involves trained enumerators, preferably from the local community, visiting each marine fisher household with smart devices. This is preceded by a robust preparatory phase. Emphasis will be given to record finer details of fishers like their demographic and socio-economic status, alternative livelihood options, and how and where government schemes can influence their status, all collected through a robust online digital platform. Officials will train enumerators in digital data collection and will validate village and infrastructure details using VyAS-NAV.

The other Union Ministers who attended the event were Ministers of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandary, and Dairying, S.P. Singh Baghel and George Kurian, along with Governors and Fisheries Ministers of several coastal states and UTs.

--IANS

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