Women Make Up 44% of India’s Inland Fishing Population, According to New FAO and BOBP-IGO Report

Women account for nearly 44 percent of India’s 23.12 million inland fishers, according to a newly released report by the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

The country profile on India’s inland small-scale fisheries was presented at a national launch workshop for the National Plan of Action (NPOA) for Small-Scale Inland Fisheries held in Bhopal. The two-day workshop is being organized by the Department of Fisheries in collaboration with BOBP-IGO, hosted by the Madhya Pradesh government, and backed by technical oversight from the FAO and scientific support from ICAR fisheries institutes.

While women constitute 10.10 million of the country’s inland fishing population, the report notes that their contributions to post-harvest activities and unpaid family work remain inadequately documented. P. Krishnan, Director of BOBP-IGO, highlighted that subsistence fishing and informal marketing channels are largely under-represented in current official statistics.

“Better recognition of women’s roles is crucial to understanding the sector’s workforce and ensuring that development initiatives reflect their needs and contributions,” Krishnan stated, adding that improved data on fishers, catches, and individual water-body ecosystems would assist authorities in designing targeted interventions.

Beyond workforce demographics, the report outlines several major operational and environmental challenges facing the sustainability of India's inland fisheries. Pollution, habitat degradation, and disrupted river connectivity are identified as primary concerns. Furthermore, competing demands for water resources from irrigation and other sectors—alongside environmental events like floods, droughts, and reservoir drawdowns—pose continuous threats to fisheries resources and dependent communities.

The study also points to insecure fishing access and leasing arrangements, as well as overlapping administrative responsibilities among fisheries, irrigation, forest, revenue, and local authorities, as regulatory issues requiring attention.

Krishnan noted that these concerns carry greater significance as focus shifts toward climate resilience and the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Maintaining aquatic habitats and integrating fisheries into broader water-resource planning are noted as essential steps for sustaining fish populations and local livelihoods.

The ongoing workshop aims to establish a coordinated framework for sustainable resource management, stakeholder engagement, and livelihood security in line with the FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries.

"This report highlights a critical blind spot in traditional economic and workforce data—the massive, yet largely undocumented, economic contribution of women in the inland fisheries sector. For businesses, policymakers, and supply chain operators working in agri-tech, food security, and rural enterprise, formalizing data collection around informal labor and post-harvest activities is essential. Addressing these structural gaps and environmental pressures will be vital for building a resilient, sustainable rural economy." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes