Deep-sea opportunity: India must get the basics in place for growth

India’s vast marine frontier, stretching over 11,000 kilometres (km) of coastline and 2 million square km of exclusive economic zones (EEZs), hides both untapped wealth and unaddressed weakness. In this context, a new NITI Aayog report, “India’s Blue Economy: Strategy for Harnessing Deep-Sea and Offshore Fisheries”, rightly calls out India’s underperformance in the deep-sea and offshore segment. The numbers highlighted in the report are striking. India has only four vessels owned by the Fishery Survey of India (FSI), compared to 1,883 from Sri Lanka and 1,216 from Iran in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) region. Its marine exports, worth about $8 billion, draw the bulk of the fish from land-based aquaculture and only a tiny share comes from open-sea fishing. Contrast this with India’s marine potential. The country’s EEZs, between 12 nautical miles and 200 nautical miles offshore and beyond, harbour an estimated 7.16 million tonnes of fish, but the lack of modern fleets and regulation keeps this potential dormant.

 

The report identifies outdated legal frameworks, particularly the Merchant Shipping Act (1958), which regulates only commercial shipping, and the Marine Fishing Regulation Acts (MFRAs) of coastal states and Union Territories, which pertain to only within 12 nautical miles and not to deep-sea areas. Without a separate “Vessels Act”, Indian fishermen lack authorisation and protection for deep-sea operations, leaving the field open to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The NITI Aayog thus recommends a ₹8,330 crore three-phase plan. Phase I (2025-28) should aim at establishing regulations, mapping resources, and building 10-15 minor deep-sea landing centres; Phase II (2029-32) should induct modern, automated vessels via cooperative ownership models; and finally Phase III (post-2033) must consolidate gains, promote value-added exports, and embed sustainability.

 

While the road map is ambitious, the present economic context too matters. External shocks often derail attempts to carry out internal reforms. The recent American tariffs, combining countervailing and anti-dumping duties approaching 60 per cent, have impacted shrimp exporters, especially in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha. With the United States accounting for nearly 40 per cent of seafood exports, India’s over-reliance on one market is a structural risk. India must diversify. Global trade rules are also shifting. The World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, adopted in 2022 to curb harmful subsidies contributing to overfishing and illegal fishing, remains to be ratified by India. New Delhi’s hesitation clearly stems from a legitimate concern. Premature cuts in subsidies could undermine small and marginal fishermen, who depend on fuel and vessel support.

 

Market access is not the only issue. Governance of commons remains yet another challenge. Overfished coastal waters are a textbook case of resource depletion. As Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom showed, sustainable use of shared resources requires decentralised governance, clear access boundaries, cooperative monitoring, and local enforcement. The deep sea cannot afford to become another open-access tragedy and a race for extraction. Instead, India’s cooperative fisheries model and new digital platforms for vessel tracking can anchor a polycentric governance structure, easing pressure on coastal stocks, enhancing export resilience, and creating new livelihoods.