Marine fishes in India: Their importance in health & nutrition

India is bestowed with 8118 km of coastline with about 20 lakh square km of exclusive economic zone for fishing around coastline (Ayyappan et. al., 2011). High priority is being offered to marine fisheries development with the support for production, marketing, canning the fishes as well as offering suitable training for fishery industry. It is estimated that about 3.93 million tons of marine fishes are produced from exclusive economic zone around the coastal line. It was estimated that total fish production in our country is of the order of 63 lakh tons during 2004-05. This is in great contrast with total fish production during 1951 (8 lakh tons). Fishes are rich in protein, vitamins and mineral salts and are also known as valuable protective food. Fish forms an important item of the diet in many areas of the world. During 2010-11, the production of marine fishes was estimated to be about 3.07 million tons as compared to a meager 0.534 million tons during 1950-51. Marine fishery registered an annual growth rate of 3.2% with a total fish production of about 3.07 million tons during 2010-11