February 20, 2025

West Bengal set to lead as India's top fish producer, says fisheries minister

West Bengal, India, is poised to become number one in the country in fish production by this year, said State Fisheries minister Biplab Roy Chowdhury on February 17.

The minister claimed that Bengal is presently in the second position in terms of production.

"The daily demand of fish in the state is 5,846 metric tonnes (MT) while the state produces 6,033 MT of fish daily," Chowdhury said during a question and answer session in the Assembly. "We send 126,000 MT of fishes to other states annually and import 112,000 MT annually."

Bengal imports fish from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Punjab while exporting to Bihar, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra. The state has ramped up production by 50% in the last 12 years, with production reaching 2,202,000 MT in 2023-24. The target is to achieve 2,330,000 MT by 2024-25.

The minister said that in fish seed production, the state has ranked number one. The department has started providing training in fish cultivation in every block and already trained over 21,284 fishermen. The target is 48,000 for the next financial year.

The minister said that his department is setting up 35 fish vending kiosks in Kolkata and its adjacent areas. The scheme, "Sufal Bangla Matsya (Fish)", will see the department selling live fishes in association with the Sufal Bangla initiative of the Agricultural Marketing Department.

The Sufal Bangla Matsya is aimed at offering fresh fish at a reasonable rate to the people of the state. The target is to set up 100 such fish vending kiosks.

- Millennium Post