The Union Department of Fisheries has started local community consultations to frame the National Plan of Action for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries. This policy aims to improve climate resilience and resource access for millions of fisherfolk, with a draft scheduled for November 2026. The sector is a major economic contributor, with recent annual production nearing 200 lakh tonnes.
The Union Department of Fisheries has launched a country-wide consultation process to draft the National Plan of Action for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (NPOA-SSF). This initiative marks a strategic shift toward a decentralized policy model, involving direct feedback from fishing communities across India's coastal states and Union Territories. The goal is to create a framework that balances economic productivity with the traditional livelihoods of millions of small-scale fishers.
This policy development comes at a time when the fisheries sector is a significant pillar of India's agricultural economy. Government data indicates that production reached 197.75 lakh tonnes in the 2024-25 period, while export value stood at Rs 73,890 crore in 2025-26. Despite these strong numbers, the sector faces structural challenges that the new policy aims to mitigate, including gaps in cold-chain infrastructure, limited access to formal credit, and the need for better market linkages for small-scale operators.
Supporting this effort, the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) is coordinating the technical framework, ensuring the plan aligns with international standards set by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Workshops are currently underway in key coastal hubs, such as Visakhapatnam and Machilipatnam, to collect ground-level insights. This bottom-up approach is intended to replace or refine older policy frameworks that critics have previously described as too focused on large-scale, capital-intensive export models, which often bypassed the interests of traditional coastal communities.
A major focus of the NPOA-SSF will be climate resilience. Small-scale fishers are increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable weather, rising sea temperatures, and the higher frequency of cyclones, which directly affect catch patterns and safety. The policy also aims to address the socioeconomic challenges faced by women in the sector and migrant fish processors, who are often overlooked in formal governance.
The timeline for the policy is set for the coming months. A preliminary draft is expected to be unveiled on World Fisheries Day, November 21, 2026, followed by a public review period. The government anticipates issuing the final notification by 2027. For stakeholders, the key monitorable will be how the policy addresses the regulatory fragmentation across different states and whether it successfully creates concrete support systems for infrastructure and resource access that do not conflict with the needs of the broader export-oriented industry.