PUDUCHERRY: India has entered the next crucial phase in developing a National Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries (NPOA-SSF), aimed at creating a comprehensive framework to protect the livelihoods and strengthen the resilience of millions of small-scale fishers across the country.
Union Fisheries Secretary Dr Abhilaksh Likhi on Tuesday formally launched the development phase of India's NPOA-SSF, guided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
The announcement was made at the valedictory session of a two-day national workshop held in Puducherry to review the first phase of the FAO-guided process. The draft National Plan of Action is scheduled to be published on World Fisheries Day on November 21.
India has completed the initiation phase, which included an assessment of the small-scale fisheries sector, stakeholder mapping and a review of legal, policy and governance gaps. The process will now move towards the development of the action plan, followed by its implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Dr Likhi said India's marine fisheries were predominantly small-scale but highly diverse. He stressed that the NPOA-SSF should go beyond being a policy document and become a practical framework that strengthens livelihoods, improves safety, secures access to resources and builds resilience among fishing communities.
With the support of the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO), the government prepared a marine small-scale fisheries profile, mapped stakeholders and conducted governance, policy and legal reviews using the FAO's diagnostic framework.
The exercise identified gaps in data relating to fishers and the role of women, besides concerns over access rights, participatory resource management, social protection, safety at sea and market access. Climate change also emerged as a major concern, with fishing communities reporting rising temperatures, shifting seasons, changes in fish availability, unpredictable monsoons and increasingly intense storms and cyclones.
The next phase will include State-level consultations before priorities, responsibilities, resources and implementation mechanisms are finalised.
FAO International Fisheries Specialist Varun Tandon said India's NPOA-SSF experience would help place the Bay of Bengal's small-scale fisheries agenda on the global stage.
BOBP-IGO Director Dr P. Krishnan said the initiative would help bring together existing policies and schemes into a single, measurable and participatory national framework with clearly identified priorities, responsibilities, resources and monitoring mechanisms.
The workshop was jointly organised by the Union Fisheries Department, BOBP-IGO and the FAO. Senior officials, representatives of coastal States and Union Territories, researchers and fishermen representatives participated in the discussions.
