The Government of India has launched the fifth National Marine Fisheries Census 2025, set to conclude in December 2025. The marine census, along with the port-led development programme of Sagarmala, are both key components of India’s ‘Blue Revolution’ push to exploit oceanic and coastal resources.
As the census notification states, it is officially aimed at digitising the census process moving away from manual data collection, and collecting information by using mobile applications and drones at fishers infrastructures: harbours, jetties and fish landing centres.
While census goals and programmes were intended to improve fisher welfare, they systematically complemented efforts to promote aquaculture (fish farming in a controlled environment as opposed to simply fishing in natural settings) and capital-intensive mechanisation instead.
The marine fishing communities largely practice small-scale fishing. Due to the competition introduced in fish production by aquaculture and displacement by infrastructure projects such as port-led development, they have become migrant labourers working part-time in various industries as workers. They fish in the season when the fish are abundant, staying in their villages. In other seasons they travel to other states for fishing. Most such small-scale fishers lack support from the local government and recognition under any formal organisations. India's New Fisheries Census Risks Erasing Traditional Fishing Communities - The Wire
The annual fishing ban imposed by the government between April and June (ostensibly to ensure fish breeding) itself shows there is no continuity of fishing throughout the year. And there is no clear definition of fish workers and how they will be identified.
The current Marine Fisheries Census 2025 collected data through trained instructors from fisheries infrastructures while prioritising registered farmer’s organisations and self-help groups, and by using digital headcounts and drone-mapped crafts at harbours and jetties from the total production. This process sidesteps the very communities it claims to represent.
In the past 20 years, the government has taken many steps to invest in and utilise marine resources for infrastructure development. Since 2015, this focus has increased and has become a core centre for India’s coastal infrastructure development under ‘Sagarmala’, with around Rs 8 lakh crore expected investment in infrastructure. Since then, marine fishers have been facing the threat of displacement and dispossession while losing access to the sea. Now, with the 2025 census, there is yet another attempt to cement the erasure of their traditional identity and belongingness.
by Ramu Avala
29/12/2025