The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including recreational, subsistence and commercial fishing, and the harvesting, processing, and marketingsectors. The commercial activity is aimed at the delivery of fish and other seafood products for human consumption or as input factors in other industrial processes. Directly or indirectly, the livelihood of over 600 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and aquaculture.MPEDA functions under the Department of Commerce, Government of India and acts as a coordinating agency with different Central and State Government establishments engaged in fishery production and allied activities.
Indian marine fishing sector plays a significant role in the economy of the country through employment generation, foreign exchange earning and above all by providing cheap protein-rich food for the people1. The importance of fisheries in the economy of India can be better The fishing industry is one of the oldest industries in India and it has a great scope for rapid improvement in the future. But in many parts of India, the fishing industry is still in the primitive stage. The changes which take place in the methods of fishing and in the handling of fish are not modern enough to cope up with the increased need for fish in India and abroad. Despite the earnest efforts made by the Central and State
In India, the marine fishing industry occupies an important place in the organized sector. As a source of food, fisheries stand almost at par with agriculture and animal husbandry.
Fisheries have a large potential to fulfill the basic objectives of production-cum full employment as envisaged in the development plans of India. Fisheries provide employment to millions of people directly and indirectly. In a direct way it provides employment through the allied activities like net making, boot carving, fish processing, fish transportation, Shrimp Cultivation, Harvesting, Ice and salt making and the lime.