Economics and Marketing

Marine fisheries in India is accorded priority in the planned development process due to its significant contribution to the economy for generating income in the most backward regions and creating employment to the people who are in the lowest rungs of the social ladder besides providing precious forex earnings and ensuring food and nutritional security. Marine fisheries, inspite of its various complexities and intrinsic sectoral conflicts has come to an industrial footing and requires rigorous research on all economic aspects for management of sustainable resource utilization enabling to face new challenges of globalisation. Resource management for maintaining sustainable production of marine fisheries demand in-depth economic analysis of different production technologies to ensure optimum exploitation, equitable distribution, efficient marketing and evolving alternate management strategies. The Socio-Economic Evaluation and Technology Transfer Division (SEETTD) of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has conducted a number of studies pertaining to fisheries economics during the last two decades in different regions of Indian coast which can be broadly classified into (1) Economics of different crafts – gear combinations, (2) Studies on marine fish marketing and price spread, (3) Socio-Economic studies of coastal fisherfolk and (4) Economic evaluation of mariculture practices. The conclusions emerged from these studies and future policy options for sustainable development are highlighted here