WFD 2024 Theme: India’s Blue Transformation: Strengthening Small-Scale and Sustainable Fisheries.

Key Initiatives Launched

• 5th Marine Fisheries Census for data-driven policymaking.
• National Plan of Action on Sharks for sustainable shark management.
• India’s endorsement to the Regional Plan of Action on IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) Fishing to prevent IUU fishing in Bay of Bengal Region jointly in cooperation with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives.
• International Maritime Organisation-Food and Agricultural Organisation (IMO-FAO) GloLitter Partnership Project to combat marine plastic litter.
• Standard Operating Procedures for retrofitted LPG kits to promote energy-efficient, low-cost marine fishing fuels.
• New Single Window System by Coastal Aquaculture Authority to enable online registration of coastal aquaculture farms.
• Kerala received the award for Best Marine State, while Telangana was recognized as Best Inland State. 

Significance of fisheries sector

• Provides Livelihood: To approximately 3 crore fishers and fish farmers while generating significant employment opportunities across value chain.
• Nutrition Fish being an affordable and rich source of animal protein, is one of the healthiest options to mitigate hunger and nutrient deficiency.
• Economic growth: Fish production contributes around 1% to India's GDP and over 5% to agricultural GDP (FAO, 2018).