ICFA Working Group on Fisheries
Fisheries and aquaculture remain important sources of food, nutrition, income and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Fish provides at least 15 % of per capita animal protein intake for 4.5 billion people. Worldwide approximately 500 million people are directly dependent on fisheries for earning their livelihood. Fish continues to be one of the most traded food commodities worldwide, with more than half of fish exports by value originating in developing countries.
Indian fisheries and aquaculture is an important sector of food production, providing nutritional security to the food basket, contributing approx. $ 6 billion to the agricultural exports and engaging about fourteen million people in different activities. With diverse resources ranging from deep seas to lakes in the mountains and more than 10% of the global biodiversity in terms of fish and shellfish species, the country has shown continuous and sustained increments in fish production since independence. Constituting about 6.3% of the global fish production, the sector contributes to 1.1% of the GDP and 5.15% of the agricultural GDP. Inland fisheries has of late expanded in a big way in no fish producing States in India. Recent reports by high-level experts and international organizations highlight the tremendous potential of the oceans and inland waters to contribute significantly to food security and adequate nutrition for a global population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. International Conference on Fisheries organized by ICFA thus becomes a significant step towards bringing together all the stakeholders on a single platform to discuss and evolve steps for consolidating the gains from fisheries and expanding production and farm profitability.
The Conference aims at achieving the following specific objectives: