India’s marine fish landings rose to 3.57 million tonnes in 2025, a 3% increase over the 3.47 million tonnes recorded in 2024 — and the state leaderboard has a new name on top. Tamil Nadu has overtaken Gujarat as India’s biggest marine fish-producing state, according to the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), whose annual estimates were released on 30 April 2026 as Marine Fish Landings in India 2025 (CMFRI Booklet Series No. 47/2026).
This is not a marginal reshuffle. Gujarat’s landings fell 15% in a single year, while Tamil Nadu edged up 1% to 6.85 lakh tonnes. Kerala held third place with 6.24 lakh tonnes, up 2%. Behind the headline, the 2025 numbers tell a story of recovering small pelagic stocks, a mechanised fleet doing more of the catching, and a catch worth nearly ₹1 lakh crore at retail. Here is the full breakdown — and what it means for fishers, traders and fisheries students.
The headline numbers: 2025 vs 2024
| Indicator | 2025 | Change vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Total marine fish landings | 3,574,226 tonnes (35.7 lakh tonnes) | +3% (from 3.47 million tonnes) |
| Value at landing centres | ₹69,254 crore | +10.45% |
| Value at retail level | ₹97,702 crore | +8.43% |
| Top landing state | Tamil Nadu — 6.85 lakh tonnes | +1%; overtakes Gujarat |
| Top landed resource | Indian mackerel — 2.70 lakh tonnes | +2% |
| Pelagic share of total catch | 54% | Pelagics dominate |
One important distinction: the 3.57 million tonnes figure covers marine fish landings. Seaweed (82,728 tonnes) and mussels, oysters and clams (1,11,985 tonnes) harvested through localised effort are reported separately by CMFRI, taking the broader harvest total to 37,68,939 tonnes. When comparing with India’s total fish production — which also includes inland capture and aquaculture — remember that marine landings are only one part of the picture. India contributes nearly 8% of the world’s total fish production, according to FAO 2024 estimates cited by CMFRI.
State leaderboard: Tamil Nadu on top, Gujarat slips
| State | 2025 performance | What drove it |
|---|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | 6.85 lakh tonnes, +1% — now No. 1 | Steady landings while Gujarat fell |
| Gujarat | Down 15% — slips to No. 2 | Lost fishing days: see below |
| Kerala | 6.24 lakh tonnes, +2% — holds No. 3 | Oil sardine resurgence; ~17% of national total |
| Karnataka | +44% — sharpest rebound | Recovery after a 34% fall in 2024 |
| Maharashtra | +18% | Strong year, aided by purse-seine gains |
| West Bengal | +12% | Steady growth |
| Odisha | −15% | Cyclone Montha hit late-October fishing |
| Daman & Diu | −20% | Shared Gujarat’s weather and ban disruptions |
Regionally, the southwest coast overtook the northwest coast in total landings, largely on the back of Karnataka’s surge. On the east coast, cyclone Montha disrupted fishing in late October across Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, followed by cyclone Ditwah in late November and early December in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Why Gujarat fell 15% in one year
CMFRI lists a chain of disruptions, not a single cause, behind Gujarat’s slide from first to second place:
- Adverse weather in early May cut fishing days before the season even peaked.
- A mid-May ban under Operation Sindoor kept boats ashore.
- An extended fishing ban — stretched from 60 to 75 days, running June to mid-August.
- Continued poor weather in August further reduced fishing activity.
- Cyclonic warnings and cyclone Shakti in early October added a final round of disruption.
The lesson for fishers is blunt: in a year of lost days, the states that kept boats fishing — or recovered fastest — gained share. Gujarat’s experience also shows why insurance and income-support discussions matter most in exactly these disrupted years, a theme we track in our 2024 landings analysis, when Gujarat still topped the chart at 3.47 million tonnes nationally.
Species scoreboard: mackerel stays king, breams boom
| Resource | 2025 landings | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Indian mackerel | 2,69,757 tonnes (2.70 lakh tonnes) | +2%; still India’s most landed fish |
| Cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopus) | ~2.57 lakh tonnes | +25%; decadal high |
| Oil sardine | 2,53,260 tonnes (2.53 lakh tonnes) | Strong; Kerala’s top species |
| Threadfin breams | 2,33,492 tonnes (2.33 lakh tonnes) | +55%; decadal high |
| Ribbonfish | 2,30,099 tonnes (2.30 lakh tonnes) | Nearly unchanged |
| Penaeid shrimps | 1,63,215 tonnes | Marginal decline |
Pelagic fish — mackerel, sardine, anchovies and their relatives — made up 54% of the catch, followed by demersal resources, crustaceans and molluscs. Indian mackerel and oil sardine led the pelagic group, threadfin breams dominated the demersal category, penaeid shrimps led crustaceans, and squids and cuttlefish were the major molluscan contributors. Non-penaeid shrimps, by contrast, fell 24%.
Kerala deserves a special mention. Indian oil sardine emerged as the state’s top resource at 1.68 lakh tonnes — up 13% on 2024 and a decadal high — even though heavy rains and a cargo shipwreck curtailed fishing in the state’s southern districts in May and June. Kerala’s landings were worth ₹12,665 crore at landing centres (up 17.8%) and ₹16,681 crore at retail (up 11.1%). CMFRI Director Dr Grinson George credited the small-pelagic recovery to “favourable environmental conditions, along with regulated fishing pressure” — a reminder that closed seasons and effort controls do show up in the numbers.
The fleet is shifting: mechanised up, motorised down
One of the sharpest structural shifts in the 2025 data is who caught the fish:
- Mechanised sector: +11% — multiday trawl nets alone added over 2 lakh tonnes and more than 7,000 unit trips; mechanised purse seines added about 1.2 lakh tonnes, driven by Karnataka and Maharashtra.
- Motorised sector: −22% — a steep fall.
- Non-motorised (traditional) sector: −6% — a smaller decline, but a decline nonetheless.
Mechanised landings rose in every region except the northwest coast and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. For traditional fishers, the message is uncomfortable but important: the national growth in 2025 was carried by the mechanised fleet, even as overall landings fell in states like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Policies on harbour infrastructure, cold chains and market access matter more than ever for small-scale fishers competing in a mechanising fishery.
How CMFRI counts 3.57 million tonnes
These are not estimates made from harbour gossip. CMFRI’s Fishery Resources Assessment, Economics & Extension Division collects data through a stratified multi-stage random sampling design across 1,258 landing centres on the mainland coast and in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Around 150 trained, harbour-based technicians record catch and effort data from fishing trips on sampling days — roughly 70,000 boat trips were observed out of 2.5 lakh trips that landed marine resources in 2025 — and the Fish Catch Survey and Analysis (FCSA) 2.0 application feeds the data in near real time.
For fisheries students and exam aspirants, the 2025 booklet is now the current reference: total 3.57 million tonnes, Tamil Nadu first, mackerel first, pelagics 54%. If you are revising from older material, update your notes — our 20 MCQs on Indian marine fisheries use the earlier 2024 estimates, so cross-check the figures against this 2025 release before your exam.
What to watch next
- Can Gujarat bounce back? Its 2025 fall was weather- and ban-driven, not a stock collapse — a normal monsoon and full fishing calendar in 2026 would test that quickly.
- Will the small-pelagic recovery hold? Oil sardine and mackerel strength drove 2025; both are famously volatile year to year.
- Does the mechanised shift continue? If motorised landings keep falling 20%+ a year, coastal livelihood policy will have to respond.
- What does the fifth National Marine Fisheries Census (2025) add? Conducted jointly by the Department of Fisheries and CMFRI, it will put socio-economic detail behind these catch totals.
FAQs
What were India’s marine fish landings in 2025?
3,574,226 tonnes (35.7 lakh tonnes), up 3% from 3.47 million tonnes in 2024, per ICAR-CMFRI’s Marine Fish Landings in India 2025.
Which state landed the most marine fish in 2025?
Tamil Nadu, with 6.85 lakh tonnes (up 1%), overtaking Gujarat, which fell 15% to second place. Kerala was third with 6.24 lakh tonnes.
Which fish was landed most in India in 2025?
Indian mackerel, at 2.70 lakh tonnes, followed by cephalopods (2.57 lakh tonnes) and oil sardine (2.53 lakh tonnes).
How much were the 2025 landings worth?
An estimated ₹69,254 crore at landing centres (up 10.45%) and ₹97,702 crore at retail (up 8.43%).
Where can I read the official data?
The full booklet is published by ICAR-CMFRI as Booklet Series No. 47/2026: Marine Fish Landings in India 2025 (PDF). The release was also covered by The Hindu BusinessLine (30 April 2026).
Source note: All figures in this post are from ICAR-CMFRI’s Marine Fish Landings in India 2025 (Booklet Series No. 47/2026, released 30 April 2026), cross-checked against The Hindu BusinessLine’s 30 April 2026 report. Figures are CMFRI estimates from stratified sampling, not census totals, and are rounded to lakh tonnes in the text where the booklet gives exact tonnes.