By R. Suryamurthy
China has already expanded its presence in the Indian Ocean — not just with warships and ports, but also with fishing nets. Its distant-water fleets, armed with state subsidies, GPS-linked trawlers and floating processing units, now sweep across the Indo-Pacific, harvesting tuna, squid and coral reef fish from waters once left to local fishers. India, by contrast, still hugs the coast — a maritime power that fishes like a village republic.
When NITI Aayog last week released its report, “India’s Blue Economy: Strategy for Harnessing Deep-Sea and Offshore Fisheries”, it marked an overdue recognition of this strategic imbalance. For decades, India’s engagement with its seas has been defensive — policing rather than producing, conserving rather than commercializing. Now, New Delhi wants to look beyond its harbours and into the deep, aiming to turn the ocean into both an economic and geopolitical asset.
While China’s distant-water fishing armada plies half the world’s oceans — a fleet estimated at more than 3,000 industrial vessels — India’s deep-sea capacity barely scrapes 1% of its maritime zone. Chinese vessels operate off Africa, Latin America and the Indian Ocean, often under opaque licensing deals and backed by billions in state financing. They serve a dual purpose: economic extraction and strategic signalling. Every net cast also extends Beijing’s maritime footprint.
India, on the other hand, remains trapped in the shallows. Despite being the world’s second-largest fish producer, 90% of its catch comes from within 50 nautical miles of the coast. Its 2 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — equivalent to two-thirds of India’s land area — remains a zone of lost opportunity.
The NITI Aayog’s “Blue Economy” report is therefore not just an economic plan; it’s a geopolitical necessity. It recognizes that marine resources, once peripheral to India’s policy imagination, are now central to its sovereignty and strategy. The stakes are no longer limited to livelihoods — they extend to India’s very presence in its own ocean.
The raw potential is staggering. India’s EEZ is estimated to hold an annual fishery potential of 7.16 million tonnes, including deep-sea species that command premium prices globally. In FY 2023–24, fisheries exports fetched ₹60,523 crore — respectable, but modest compared to what deep-sea expansion could unlock.
Done right, this could be India’s next coastal revolution — boosting exports, generating skilled employment, reducing pressure on overfished nearshore waters, and turning fishing towns into logistics hubs for global seafood trade.
Yet, potential alone counts for little. The report admits what experts have long said: India’s deep-sea fisheries are crippled by outdated policies, lack of modern vessels, poor infrastructure, and minimal investment in marine science. Governance is fragmented across multiple ministries, and fishers are often locked in subsistence cycles without access to technology, finance or organized markets.
China treats fishing as a projection of power. Its fleets are backed by subsidies, port infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and diplomatic deals with smaller coastal nations that open access to regional waters. Fishing vessels often double as intelligence and surveillance assets, operating alongside maritime militias.
In 2021, Chinese trawlers were spotted off Madagascar and Somalia; in 2023, near Sri Lanka’s southern waters — uncomfortably close to India’s backyard. The boundary between economic activity and strategic manoeuvre is deliberately blurred.
India, meanwhile, has underused one of its greatest comparative advantages — a central geographic position astride major sea lanes, abundant human capital, and growing naval reach. Yet, its economic engagement with the ocean remains timid, limited to coastal capture and aquaculture.
If the Blue Economy strategy is implemented seriously, it could finally close this gap — transforming India from a reactive coastal manager into a proactive maritime player. But for that, New Delhi must abandon its incrementalism and treat fisheries not as welfare, but as strategy.
The NITI Aayog report offers a six-pillar framework: policy reform, institutional capacity, fleet modernization, sustainability, financing, and community participation. Each of these is necessary. But execution will determine whether India becomes a deep-sea nation or remains a coastal one.
India needs a modern Deep-Sea Fisheries Act to replace its fragmented coastal laws. The EEZ cannot remain a regulatory void. A clear licensing regime, scientific stock assessment, and vessel monitoring system are essential — not only for sustainability but for asserting jurisdiction in contested waters.
Deep-sea fishing requires modern vessels, sonar systems, onboard refrigeration, and skilled crews. The current fleet is antiquated. A national program to upgrade vessels through cooperative ownership — akin to dairy cooperatives — could democratize access while keeping control in Indian hands.
Deep-sea operations are capital-heavy. Expecting artisanal fishers to self-finance such ventures is delusional. Dedicated Blue Economy credit lines, risk-sharing mechanisms, and tax incentives for private investment are crucial. Without this, the sector will remain dependent on state subsidies and small-scale boats.
Cold storage, landing centres, processing facilities and export corridors are the arteries of deep-sea trade. Most are absent or outdated. Integrating fisheries with Sagarmala and coastal economic zone projects could turn isolated harbours into full-fledged seafood logistics hubs.
Sustainability cannot be an afterthought. Deep-sea ecosystems are slow to recover. India must set catch limits, designate marine protected areas, and enforce them ruthlessly. The alternative is to replicate the tragedy of land-based overexploitation — at sea.
The report rightly stresses “inclusive fleet development.” Deep-sea fishing should not become the preserve of industrial players or political cronies. Small fishers need training, technology and guaranteed access to cooperative ownership. Without them, this will become another top-down growth story that excludes the very people it promises to uplift.
At stake is more than economics. Every vessel that sails under the Indian flag into deep-sea waters strengthens the country’s strategic presence. Maritime activity generates not just trade but surveillance, mapping and deterrence capacity. It’s no coincidence that the nations dominating deep-sea fishing — China, Japan, South Korea, Norway — also lead in ocean research and maritime power projection.
India’s SAGAR vision — “Security and Growth for All in the Region” — will remain hollow unless backed by blue-water economic capability. A credible deep-sea fishing policy could complement naval expansion, enhance India’s regional diplomacy, and counterbalance China’s growing maritime influence.
The world’s oceans are becoming the new arena of competition — for resources, influence and ecological control. India cannot afford to remain a spectator while others net both the fish and the geopolitical advantage.
The NITI Aayog report’s phased roadmap — foundation (2025–28), scaling (2029–32), and global leadership (post-2033) — is ambitious. But India’s bureaucracy has a poor track record of sustaining momentum beyond PowerPoint launches. Without a dedicated Blue Economy Mission Authority with funding, autonomy and accountability, this strategy could sink under the weight of inter-ministerial turf wars.
The window is narrow. As China expands its economic and paramilitary footprint across the Indian Ocean — from Gwadar to Hambantota to Seychelles — India’s response cannot remain confined to naval posturing. Economic engagement, backed by science, technology and sustainable governance, must become part of its strategic deterrent.
Deep-sea fishing, in that sense, is not a niche economic reform. It is a test of India’s ability to think like a maritime power — to integrate security, economy and ecology in a single national strategy.
India’s challenge is not that it lacks potential, but that it lacks urgency. The deep sea could be India’s next growth engine — or another missed opportunity. It could empower coastal communities, diversify exports, and reinforce national security. Or it could dissolve into a familiar cycle of overpromise and underdelivery.
For now, China is already trawling the waters India has barely begun to map. The Blue Economy vision gives India a compass — but unless New Delhi learns to sail with speed and conviction, it may find that others have already emptied the ocean. (IPA Service)
