pmmsy-bridging-gaps-in-the-fisheries-sector

PMMSY: Bridging Gaps in the Fisheries Sector

 

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated reforms in the Indian fisheries sector to harness the Blue Economy‘s potential by launching the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) in 2020.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic the PM turned this crisis into an opportunity by announcing the Atmanirbhar Bharat package for the fisheries sector. A significant sum of ₹20,050 crore was allocated for the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) in 2020, committing the biggest-ever investment in the history of Indian fisheries.

 

About Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) 

  • The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, is implementing the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
  • It is designed to address critical gaps in the fisheries value chain from fish production, productivity and quality to technology, post-harvest infrastructure and marketing. 
  • It aims to modernise and strengthen the value chain, enhance traceability and establish a robust fisheries management framework while simultaneously ensuring the socio-economic welfare of fishers and fish farmers. 
  • The scheme focuses on the doubling of fishers’ income through a variety of interventions like by generating meaningful employment.

 

Benefits from PMMSY

  • The fresh chunk of investment and focused attention began to address critical gaps in the fisheries value chain from fish production, productivity and quality to technology, post-harvest infrastructure and marketing. 
  • It identified key strategic priority areas: marine fisheries, inland fisheries, fishermen’s welfare, infrastructure and post-harvest management, cold water fisheries, ornamental fisheries, aquatic health management, and seaweed cultivation, among others.
  • As it completes three years, the PMMSY has successfully pulled inland fisheries from traditional waters, and infused technology, inspiring many talented and enterprising youth to venture into fisheries. 
    • Today, young woman entrepreneurs from the Kashmir Valley are efficiently rearing cold water rainbow trout using a recirculatory aquaculture system. 
    • Aquapreneurs in Nellore have become successful exporters, thanks to biofloc cultivated shrimps.
  • The PMMSY has also helped to expand fisheries to non-traditional areas. Almost 20,000 hectares of fresh pond area is being brought under inland aquaculture, and even in landlocked Haryana and Rajasthan, farmers are successfully converting their saline waste lands into wealth lands through aquaculture.
  • The PMMSY has empowered fisher women to explore remunerative options and alternative livelihoods, such as ornamental fisheries, pearl culture, and seaweed cultivation. 
  • The PMMSY has enabled 900 fish feed plants and 755 hatcheries, and is supporting research and genetic improvement of Indian White Shrimp at Chennai, the development of specific pathogen-free brood stock, and domestication of tiger shrimp in the Andaman Islands. 

Conclusion

The government has recently announced investment of ₹6,000 crore as a sub scheme under the PMMSY, taking total investment into fisheries to more than ₹38,500 crore over the last nine years. 

A recently launched ₹127-crore Seaweed Park in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district is a truly pioneering step by the government. 

India is now counted among the world’s top three countries in fish and aquaculture production, and is also the biggest shrimp exporter in the world. 

As the developmental partnership between fishermen and government gets stronger to harness the potential of the Blue Economy, there is also a need to address the concerns of fishermen and support them on the path of development through other such initiatives.

 

Imp for: UPSC Prelims, UPSC GS Mains Paper III

Topic: Agriculture, Economics, Coastal Development, Government Schemes