Fish catch in Maharashtra rose for the first time since 2017, increasing by around 38% from 1.23 lakh tonnes in 2021 to 1.7 lakh tonnes in 2022, according to Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) data. An increase in catch was seen in most coastal states last year, likely reflecting a return to pre-pandemic levels of fishing activity, said S Ramkumar, scientist in charge at CMFRI Mumbai. Fishing had declined in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid measures, he noted.

Despite the increase, the state’s catch was half of the 3.8 lakh tonne landings seen in 2017. Raigad led in the state, contributing 28% of all catch, followed by Mumbai city with 26% and Ratnagiri with 23%. While the catch of all the species rose, except for Indian mackerel which fell slightly, the landings of Indian oil sardine saw the biggest jump -going from 44 tonnes in 2021 to 23,000 tonnes in 2022.

Oil sardine’s catch rises 188% in country, shrimp doubles in Maharashtra

The state’s fish catch increased by 38% to 1.7 lakh tonnes in 2022 with the Indian oil sardine seeing the biggest jump, data from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) shows. Oil sardines, or taarla in Marathi, are small fish that travel in large shoals relatively close to shore and can be scooped up in vast quantities. Much of the state’s oil sardine catch was in southern Maharashtra.

They are most abundant in southwest India. Across the country, Indian oil sardine catch increased by 188.2% in 2022 compared with 2021. This increase was likely due to population dynamics -more eggs might have hatched around the same time -as well as conducive environmental conditions, said CMFRI’s Ramkumar. CMFRI scientists had forecast the bump in sardine catch, as the fishery tends to fluctuate with the La Nina/El Nino cycles (2022 was a La Nina year).

Maharashtra also saw big increases in penaeid prawns or shrimp, which doubled from almost 9,000 tonnes to about 18,000 tonnes, as well as ribbon fish, whose catch increased from 4,600 to over 10,000 tonnes. Fish catch in the state fell dramatically in 2018 and 2019 due to bad weather that kept boats ashore on many days-including a surprising amount of cyclonic activity in the Arabian Sea-as well as overfishing.

In fact, 2019 saw the state get its lowest fish catch since 1974-though that number then fell further in the pandemic-affected years of 2020 and 2021. Maharashtra contributed 5% of the all India catch of 3.5 million tonnes. The bulk of the catch (around 72%) was by mechanised purse seine boats, followed by multi-day trawl nets and mechanised dol nets. Only Odisha and Gujarat saw a decline in catch last year. West Bengal saw the biggest increase in catch of around 38.4%-just a little higher increase than Maharashtra-while Puducherry saw a 30% increase in catch and Tamil Nadu 28%.