Widen the net

Deep sea fisheries policy must be liberalised

The perceived impressive showing of an overall annual growth rate of 10.88 per cent in the last five years can’t hide the fact that the country’s fisheries sector is not free from a few glaring anomalies holding it from growing to its full potential. The average per-fisherman productivity is low compared to the global standards, and there are wide intra-sector disparities that need to be addressed to ensure a uniform development of this most lucrative segment of the broad farm sector. Of the two broad branches of fisheries — marine and inland — the former, which historically contributed the major