Explainer - FAO’s Blue Ports Initiative

The Department of Fisheries has signed a Technical Cooperation Programme agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations to strengthen Blue Port infrastructure in India.

Blue Ports Initiative

• Fishing ports are critical nodes where logistical operations, sanitary controls and value addition processes converge. They also serve as platforms where public and private actors interact, directly influencing the quality, efficiency and sustainability of fish trade.

• The fisheries sector currently faces a growing number of complex challenges — climate change impacts on aquatic resources, rising regulatory requirements in international markets, and the need to adopt more sustainable and equitable practices.

• ‘Blue Ports’ represent a concrete response to these challenges and opportunities in fisheries trade within an increasingly complex environment. 

• These are fishing ports that go beyond their traditional functions to evolve into sustainable development platforms for aquatic value chains. 

• This includes improving port infrastructure, enhancing governance and management frameworks, ensuring social equity and justice, and safeguarding surrounding ecosystems.

• A blue port enables the efficient and traceable movement of aquatic products to market, while promoting fair conditions for all actors in the sector, including small-scale fishers. 

• This requires appropriate post-harvest handling systems, cold chain and storage infrastructure, basic processing capacity, efficient sanitary controls, as well as transparency, traceability, and regulatory compliance mechanisms.

• The Blue Port Initiative approach goes beyond logistics. It recognises the port as a multisectoral interface, where policies on fisheries, trade, public health, transport and local development converge. 

• This integrated approach adds value at the territorial level, reduces losses and waste, improves access to differentiated markets, and ensures that fish trade is conducted under principles of sustainability and equity.

Blue Ports framework in India

• In partnership with the FAO, this initiative supports the development of three model harbours under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). 

• Under the ‘Blue Ports’ framework, the Department of Fisheries is leading the development of smart and integrated fishing harbours that combine technological innovation with environmental stewardship. 

• Three pilot harbours — Vanakbara (Diu), Karaikal (Puducherry), and Jakhau (Gujarat) — have been approved with a total investment of Rs 369.8 crore. 

• These modern harbours aim to revolutionise post-harvest fisheries infrastructure by ensuring safer, cleaner, and more efficient operations for India’s fishing communities. 

• Supported under the PMMSY, the initiative integrates smart technologies such as IoT devices, sensor networks, satellite communication, and data analytics to streamline harbour operations and enable real-time decision-making. 

• Eco-friendly features such as rainwater harvesting, energy-efficient lighting, electric-powered equipment, and robust waste management systems — including sewage treatment plants and marine debris clean-up underscore the commitment to sustainability while enhancing economic performance, social inclusion, and ecosystem protection.

• The FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) on ‘Strengthening of Blue Ports’ intends to assist the Indian government to strengthen fishing ports’ technical capacities to address the main environmental, social and economic challenges that affect the aquatic value chain. 

• Two pilot fishing ports — Vanakbara (Diu) and Jakhau (Gujarat) — will benefit from this TCP that will provide them with specific strategic and operational tools to identify and formulate investment projects, whose implementation would address the main challenges. 

• Also, a capacity building programme will be provided aimed at public and private stakeholders to better comprehend the main challenges and oriented solutions that address the sustainability of fishing ports.