India's marine fish catch increases by 6.6% The Statesman dated 20th May 2017

India's marine fish catch has recorded an increase of 6.6 per cent during 2016 as the year before but the catch of sardines continued to show a declining trend, as per estimates released by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here on Friday. The total marine fish landings for 2016 stood at 3.63 million tonnes, with Gujarat remaining at the top position for the fourth consecutive year, followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra. Even as mackerel recorded a sharp decline in Kerala, the national fish was placed at the first spot with an overall production of 2.5 lakh tonnes ahead of sardine (2.44 lakh tonnes). The data released shows that Kerala, one of the major fish-consuming states in the country, has slipped down to fourth spot for the first time in the history, behind Karnataka. Sardine, the most favourite and common fish species of Kerala, continued to show a decreasing trend in the landings, recording a mere 0.46 lakh tonnes (a 32.8 per cent decrease over the previous year), which is the lowest catch of the species in the past two decades