India Advances to Development Phase of National Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries

India has moved into the next crucial phase of developing a National Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries (NPOA-SSF), bringing the country closer to a comprehensive framework aimed at protecting the livelihoods of millions of small-scale fishers.

Abhilaksh Likhi, Union Fisheries Secretary, formally launched the development phase of India’s NPOA-SSF based on guidelines suggested by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The country has officially completed its initiation phase, which involved assessing the sector, mapping stakeholders, and identifying legal and governance gaps under the FAO framework.

The announcement was made during the valedictory session of a two-day national workshop held in Puducherry to review the first phase of the FAO-guided NPOA-SSF process. The workshop was jointly organized by the Union Fisheries Department, the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO), and the FAO.

During the first phase, the government, with support from BOBP-IGO, prepared a profile of marine small-scale fisheries, mapped stakeholders, and undertook a governance, policy, and legal review using the FAO’s SSF diagnostic framework. According to Likhi, these consultations have already led to changes in intervention logic based on concerns raised by fishers and fisherwomen regarding safety, boat losses, and the largely unrecognized work of women involved in drying, curing, vending, and net-making.

Likhi emphasized that India’s marine fisheries are predominantly small-scale yet highly diverse, noting that the NPOA-SSF should serve as a practical framework to strengthen livelihoods, improve safety, secure access to resources, and build resilience among fishing communities.

P. Krishnan, Director of BOBP-IGO, noted that the exercise addresses a longstanding implementation gap in the sector. While India already has various policies and schemes covering several aspects of small-scale fisheries, the NPOA-SSF is intended to bring these strands together into a single, measurable, and participatory national framework with clearly defined priorities, responsibilities, resources, and monitoring mechanisms.

The process will now advance to state-level consultations before priorities, responsibilities, resources, and implementation arrangements are finalized. The final stage will involve the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the NPOA developed in the current phase.

A draft of the plan is expected to be released on World Fisheries Day on November 21. Varun Tandon, International Fisheries Specialist at the FAO, remarked that India’s NPOA-SSF experience will help put the Bay of Bengal’s small-scale fisheries agenda on the global stage.

"The formal launch of the development phase for the National Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries marks a systematic step toward formalizing and strengthening a critical segment of India's rural economy. By moving from fragmented policies to a measurable, participatory national framework, the initiative creates better governance, addresses safety and livelihood gaps, and integrates marginalized contributions—particularly from women in fishing communities. Structured policy execution of this scale is essential for sustainable economic growth at the grassroots level." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes