India is the world’s second largest producer of food and has further potential to grow in this sector. Fish and marine products are the important items as a food constituent and with about 8041 km of coastal line, 3 million hectares of reservoirs and 1.4 million hectares of brackish water, the country has vast potential for fish both from marine and inland sources.

India is the 6th largest producer of fish & 16th largest exporter of marine products in the world. Further, India is the 2nd largest producer of inland fish in the world. This sector is of immense importance to the country due to employment generation capacity and export potential. Out of total Indian exports, the share of Seafood exports is 3.32%, however, it is the 4th largest contributor to the net foreign exchange earned by the country.

The following table gives the export of marine products from the country during last few years.

Japan is the largest importer of fish and fishery products with about 22.6% of India’s export. The other major countries for Indian fishery product import are Australia, Belgium, EU and USA. The major species that are exported include frozen squed, cuttle fish, frozen lobsters, crabs and lobsters, finfish, live shrimp and ornamental fish.

Gujarat has 1600 kms long coastline and therefore, offers large opportunities for the development of marine and fisheries sector. The area available for fishing activities extends from Lakhpat in Kachchh district in north to Umargaon in Valsad district in south.

The major commercial varieties of fish that are caught on the Gujarat coast are Pomfret, Jew fish, Bombay duck, Prawn, Lobster, Squid, Cuttle fish, Silver bar, Hilsa, Shark, Catfish, Mullets, Ribbon fish, Shrimps, Sear fish and Croakers. Also, the gulf of Kachchh has favorable conditions for the growth and sustenance of different types of Oysters, Shellfish and Seaweeds.

Total marine fish production in Gujarat had increased from 5.69 lakh tonnes in 1991-92 to 6.55 lakh tonnes in 2003-04. Thus the growth of this production was around 16% during the decade. Junagadh is the major fish producing district accounting for 53% of total production in the state. It is followed by Valsad, Kutch, Jamanagar and Amreli districts. The marine fish production constitutes about 93% of the total fish production of the State. There were 31,000 fishing boats in the State out of which 18,635 were mechanized boats. During the year 2003-04 the foreign export of fish and fish products were 1.08 lakh tones worth Rs. 6144 million. At present there are 55 fish processing plants and 57 cold storages in the state with the total storage capacity of 22,925 tonnes

Fish processing facilities in the state needs upgradation, to meet quality standards of quality conscious markets such European Union, USA, Japan and other developed countries. Therefore, several opportunities exist in for the promotion of fisheries industries in the state which include creation of fisheries related infrastructure, cold storage chain, fish processing units, setting up training centers for skill building and trade development.