Govt launches fully digitised National Marine Fisheries Census 2025

• Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying George Kurian George Kurian launched the household enumeration phase of the National Marine Fisheries Census (MFC) 2025.

• The launch event was held at the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in Kochi on November 1.

Highlights of Marine Fisheries Census

• This edition of the Marine Fisheries Census will cover over 1.2 million households across 5,000 marine fishing villages in coastal states and Union Territories.

• The hallmark of this activity is household-level enumeration of fishers, fishing crafts, gears, and infrastructure across over 1,200 landing centres, 50 fishing harbours, jetties, markets, and processing plants with the help of specially designed mobile-based applications.

• The 45-day nationwide enumeration will be carried out from November 3 to December 18.

• The census is coordinated by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) with CMFRI as the nodal agency and Fishery Survey of India (FSI) as the operational partner.

• This edition marks a major technological shift as the first fully digitised data collection in the history of Indian fisheries.

• Moving entirely from conventional paper-based methods, it is poised to generate the most comprehensive, granular, and geo-referenced national database to date, laying a robust foundation for evidence-based planning.

• The entire enumeration of approximately 1.2 million fisher households across 5,000 villages/habitations in 13 coastal States and Union Territories, including the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, will be fully digital and paperless.

• For the first time, the enumeration includes detailed information on crucial indicators like total family income, homeownership, outstanding liabilities, and sources of credit.

• Vital data will be gathered on insurance status, major losses or disabilities, the specific socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on fisher families, and the receipt of benefits from various schemes.

• The process is powered by a suite of custom-made, multilingual Android applications developed by the nodal agency, the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI).

These apps are:

a) VyAS–NAV (for validation of fishing villages and harbours).

b) VyAS–BHARAT (household and infrastructure enumeration).

c) VyAS–SUTRA (for real-time supervision and monitoring of households and enumerators). 

• This digital approach enables real-time, geo-referenced data collection, eliminating manual errors and significantly accelerating data processing.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)