Introduction:

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 marketing sectors. 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 500 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and aquaculture.

Body:

Regions of fishing industry:

• The North-West Pacific: Vast stretches of Eurasian region, comprising countries like Korea, Japan, C.I.S., are tradi­tionally major fish producing region over last 50 years.
• The North-West Atlantic: This fishing region extends from Newfoundland in north to New England state of U.S.A. in the South. This region secures fourth position among fishing regions with 9% of the global catch. Different famous banks, namely Grand bank, Seble bank, Georges banks in this region are famous for fish concentration.
• The North-East Atlantic: At present, this region secures top position in the total catch of fish. It roughly accounts for 21% of the total global catch. This region covers an area that extends from Iceland to Mediterranean coast through C.I.S., Denmark, Norway, Spain, Iceland. U.K. etc. This region is also known as North-West Euro­pean Zone.
• The North-East Pacific: This region is situated exclusively in North American continent, stretches from Alaska to California in U.S.A. This is the fourth largest fish-producing area on earth, accounting for 7% of the world’s catch. The major areas of fishing include San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver etc. The major fish varieties are salmon, tuna, halibut and herring.
• Southern Hemisphere: Temperate fishing grounds of Southern hemisphere attained such a massive growth in recent years that it has been able to surpass the traditional producing regions of Northern hemisphere. Among the top five fish-producing countries, two — Peru (second) and Chile (fourth) — are from Southern hemisphere.

Reasons for development of fishing industry in the Northern hemisphere over southern hemisphere:

• Wide expanse of continental shelf. E.g.: N.W. Pacific which is below 200 metres of depth
• Presence of shallow water.
• Confluence of warm and cold current and subsequent growth of abundant plankton. E.g.: warm Kuroshio current with cold Oyashio current; warm Gulf Stream with cold Labrador Current
• The traditional skill in fishing.
• Large population of the country and absence of protein food.
• Absence of alternative occupation.
• Numerous ports in this region facilitate export-import facilities.
• Broken coast line provides excellent facilities of port and fishing harbour building.
• Deposition of abundant product by inland rivers. E.g.: Hoang Ho, Kitakami that is consumed by fish.
• Cold climate facilitates preservation facilities.
• Nearby forest provides wood for ship building.

Conclusion:

India’s long coastline has the potential of becoming the strength of the economy particularly through the exploitation of the Blue Revolution. India can grow to the extent of 10 trillion-dollar economy as against 2.7 trillion dollars today with the help of the Blue Economy. India needs to develop more scientifically its fishing system and other related aspects such as freezing, packaging, etc.