For decades, India’s small-scale fishers have lived with decisions made about them, not with them. Now, for the first time, the country is writing a national plan for their future — and fishers themselves are being asked to write it. A nationwide consultation exercise is under way for India’s National Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries (NPOA-SSF), and the message coming out of meeting after meeting is strikingly consistent: protect fishers from climate shocks, protect their traditional rights, and recognise the women who keep the whole value chain running.
The Kochi consultation on 12 October 2026 put that message in sharp focus. More than 50 representatives — fishing community members, women fish workers, fish vendors, fisher organisations and researchers — gathered at the ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Kochi, Kerala. The meeting was organised in association with the Federation of Indian Fisher Organisations (FIFO), and inaugurated by CIFT Director Dr George Ninan. Its recommendations will go to the National Task Force drafting the plan.
What is the NPOA-SSF — and why does it matter now?
The NPOA-SSF is India’s national plan for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries. It is being developed in line with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, the international framework for the rights, livelihoods and sustainable development of small-scale fishing communities.
The Union Department of Fisheries is leading the exercise, while the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) is facilitating and coordinating it. Coastal states and Union Territories have been asked to hold consultations, appoint nodal officers or teams, and submit fishing communities’ views to the National Task Force. Union Fisheries Secretary Dr Abhilaksh Likhi has described the consultations as central to the process — not a formality to be completed before the plan is drafted, but where the plan itself is written.
That matters because small-scale fishing is not a marginal activity in India. It supports millions of people in fishing and allied work — catching, processing, marketing, boat repair, ice and transport — and it feeds coastal and inland communities across the country. A plan that reflects fishers’ real risks, rather than only officials’ assumptions, could shape policy on resource access, safety at sea, decent work and gender equality for years.
The timeline: what happens next
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 8 October 2026 | Centre announces nationwide consultations for the NPOA-SSF |
| 12 October 2026 | Kochi community consultation at ICAR-CIFT, with 50+ representatives |
| Early November 2026 | National Task Force incorporates consultation findings into a draft |
| 21 November 2026 | Draft plan released for public consultation on World Fisheries Day |
| 2027 | Further review, finalisation and notification of the plan |
The 21 November date is the one to watch. That is when the draft leaves meeting rooms and becomes a public document that any fisher, fish worker or organisation can read and respond to. Until then, the state-level consultations are the main channel for getting community views into the draft.
What fishers asked for at Kochi
Five demands stood out at the Kochi meeting, and they echo what fishers have raised in other states too:
| Demand | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Compensation for lost fishing days | Payment for income lost when rough seas and extreme weather make fishing impossible |
| Climate and disaster protection | Disaster preparedness and climate adaptation written into the plan, not added as an afterthought |
| Protection of traditional rights | Safeguards for customary fishing grounds and community access to resources |
| Community role in management | Local communities given a greater say in managing marine resources |
| Sustainable fishing rules | Comprehensive mesh-size regulations to protect stocks and future catches |
Climate risk was described as the most pressing threat to fishing livelihoods. Participants called for disaster preparedness and climate adaptation measures to be explicitly embedded in the forthcoming plan — a direct response to seasons in which storms, rough seas and shifting fish availability have already cut into incomes.
Women fish workers: recognition, at last, on the agenda
One of the strongest threads at Kochi was gender. Women fish workers raised concerns about their role in fish processing, marketing and other post-harvest activities, and demanded formal recognition of women as fish workers, along with greater representation in fisheries policy and decision-making.
That recognition matters in concrete ways. Much of women’s fisheries work — sorting, drying, processing, vending — happens off the boat and is often invisible in official records, which can affect access to schemes, credit and decision-making forums. Formal recognition as fish workers would put that work on the record. BOBP-IGO Director P. Krishnan has said the action plan will address a broad range of issues affecting small-scale fishing communities, including access to fisheries resources, sustainable fisheries management, decent work, gender equality, and climate change and disaster risk.
Readers who want to see how women’s fisheries leadership is being built elsewhere can read our earlier stories: Ghana Ministry Backs Women in Fisheries Science and Ghana’s Fishers Seize Control: Academy to 20 Communities. The issues are strikingly similar — recognition, training and a seat at the table.
This is not just a Kerala story
The Kochi meeting was one stop in a much larger exercise. Community-led consultations have already been held at Kakdwip in West Bengal and Baleswar in Odisha, and consultations in Tamil Nadu — organised by FIFO and the Participatory Learning Action Network and Training (PLANT) Trust, with the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, the National Federation of Small-Scale Fish Workers and the National Fishworkers’ Forum, and technical support from BOBP-IGO — have flagged the same themes: climate risks, safety at sea, traditional fishing rights and social protection.
More than 20 consultations are planned across the eastern and western coasts and the island territories. That scale is the point: a national plan written from one state’s experience would miss the diversity of India’s small-scale fisheries, from marine capture on the coasts to inland and island fisheries.
For context on how small-scale fishers are being supported in other countries, see Ireland’s Small Fishers Get 80% Grants — €30,000 Cap. The support models differ, but the principle is the same: small fishers need targeted backing, not one-size-fits-all policy.
How a small-scale fisher can take part
- Find your state’s consultation. Ask your State Fisheries Department whether a consultation has been held in your district or is still planned, and who the nodal officer or team for the NPOA-SSF exercise is.
- Go through your organisation. Fisher organisations, cooperatives and federations are feeding views to the National Task Force — a collective submission carries the experience of a whole landing centre, not just one boat.
- Name the specific loss. The strongest submissions are specific: how many fishing days were lost to weather in a season, what a lost day costs a household, and what safety or compensation arrangement would actually help.
- Watch for 21 November. When the draft is released for public consultation on World Fisheries Day, read it against what your community asked for — and respond while the plan is still open to change.
- Keep the record. Note the date, place and organisers of any consultation you attend, so your community can check whether its views made it into the draft.
What to watch — and what not to assume
Three things deserve honest caution. First, the plan is not yet final: everything reported from Kochi and other consultations is a set of demands and recommendations to the National Task Force, not a notified policy. Second, compensation for lost fishing days is a demand fishers have made — it is not yet an announced scheme with rates, eligibility rules or an application window, and readers should not treat it as one. Third, the draft’s real test comes after 21 November: whether the public consultation genuinely changes the text, or merely endorses it.
Even with those cautions, the shift is real. A national plan for small-scale fisheries, written through consultations in fishing communities across India’s coasts and islands, with women fish workers’ recognition and climate protection on the agenda, is a different kind of policy-making from the top-down norm. Whether it delivers will depend on what happens between now and notification in 2027 — and on whether fishers keep showing up to shape it.
Images in this post are illustrations. Sources: IANS reports on the Kochi consultation (12 October 2026) and the nationwide consultation launch (8 October 2026), as carried by The Hindu BusinessLine, The Hawk, AgriTimes and Nation Press; BOBP-IGO and Union Department of Fisheries statements quoted in those reports. All dates and claims verified against those sources on 28 October 2026. No application window is claimed in this post, because none has been announced for the plan itself.