World Fisheries Day 2021 observed on 21st November 

The World Fisheries Day is annually celebrated across the world on 21st November to recognise the contributions of millions of fish farmers, and people involved with the fishery trade across the globe.

• The World Fisheries Day aims to draw attention to overfishing, habitat destruction and other serious threats to the sustainability of our marine and freshwater resources.

Note – Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) – 14: “Life Below Water”, deals with goals to safeguard Oceanic population.

• 2021 is the fifth World Fisheries Day, which is annually observed across the globe since its 1st observance in 2015.

Objective – To create robust opportunities for fishing communities; To encourage fisheries as a trade, social responsibility and moral grounds of justice and to safeguard the interests of fishing communities.

Background:

i.A forum for the World Fisheries consortium was set up in 1997 and was called the World Fisheries Forum (WFF).

ii.The first World Fisheries Day was celebrated on November 21, 2015, on the same day, India opened  the International Fisherman’s organization in New Delhi.

Significance:

i.India aims to achieve Rs 1 lakh crore revenue from exports in fisheries sector including marine products by Financial Year 2024-25.

ii.The Government of India is planning to transform the fishing sector through the Blue Revolution in the country and to increase farmers income by enhancing productivity, improving quality and reducing waste.

iii.Odisha is the fourth largest fish producing state of India & total contribution of the fisheries sector to the Indian economy is 2.33 percent. 8.73 lakh metric tonnes of fish is produced during the year 2020-21 by Odisha.

Fish Production:

i.India is the World’s 2nd largest fish producer after China while Tamil Nadu is India’s largest fish producing state (as of 2019).

ii.The fisheries sector has grown at an average annual growth rate of about 13 per cent in Odisha over the past 5 years.

iii.The Odisha government has successfully piloted inclusion of fish in anganwadi supplementary nutrition programme in Mayurbhanj district, through introduction of dry fish and fish powder.

Government’s effort to improve fishing sector:

i.Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada – The programme aims to achieve 22 million tonnes of fish production by 2024-25. Also, it is expected to create employment opportunities for 55 lakh people.

ii.Focus on Blue Revolution: The Central Government has introduced ‘Blue Revolution 2.0/ Neel Kranti Mission’ towards development & management of fisheries.

Note – The 1st Blue revolution was introduced in the 7th 5-year plan (1985-1990)

iii.Extension of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to fish farmers to help them in meeting their working capital.

Awards:

The award ceremony for World Fisheries Day 2021 is conducted at Convention Centre, Odisha Secretariat, Bhubaneswar.

• The award is organised by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal husbandry and Dairying
• The government of India facilitated the fisheries sector awards for the first time on World Fisheries Day 2020.

Best performing states 2020-2021

Best Performing Districts 2020-2021

Attendees:

Union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, Parshottam Rupala, Union ministers of state for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, Dr L Murugan and Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, secretary, fisheries, Jatindra Nath Swain.

About Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying:

Union Minister – Parshottam Rupala
Minister of State – Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Dr. L Murugan