Up to 35 million tonnes of fish wasted each year: Study

BOBP-IGO Director Dr P Krishnan, who presented the report at the workshop, said infrastructure and institutional gaps-such as the lack of cold storage facilities at landing centres, insufficient ice plants, poorly integrated cold-chain logistics, and weak processing and packaging systems-were among the critical deficiencies identified in the Bay of Bengal region.

Infrastructure inefficiencies in the marine fisheries sector lead to the wastage of 25 to 35 million tonnes of fish globally every year, according to a latest study. The joint study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) found that fish loss and waste account for 20–35 per cent of total production in developing countries, a press release said. In some regions, losses are as high as 75 per cent, posing a major threat to nutrition security and economic sustainability, it added, quoting the study. The findings were presented at a two-day international workshop on the Marine Fisheries Value Chain in the Bay of Bengal region, being held in Puducherry on Thursday. The study further revealed that post-harvest fish loss across Asia is emerging as a silent crisis, with 20–60 per cent of the total catch lost along the aquatic food value chain, severely affecting food security and fishers' incomes, it said. Conducted during 2025–26 across 11 Asian countries, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, the study highlighted systemic inefficiencies in the marine fisheries sector. According to the findings, 43.5 per cent of losses occur at landing sites due to inadequate icing facilities and high ambient temperatures. BOBP-IGO Director Dr P Krishnan, who presented the report at the workshop, said infrastructure and institutional gaps-such as the lack of cold storage facilities at landing centres, insufficient ice plants, poorly integrated cold-chain logistics, and weak processing and packaging systems-were among the critical deficiencies identified in the Bay of Bengal region. The global workshop is being jointly organised by BOBP-IGO and the Puducherry government in association with FAO, the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the National Fisheries Development Board, and the Environmental Defence India Foundation, the release said. Krishnan said that while public investment in production and extraction remains high, investment in post-harvest management is very low, and market access systems remain weak. ''The neglect of mid-chain components and inadequate private investment further exacerbate losses,'' he said, according to the release. The study called for a comprehensive value-chain upgrade to transform fishers from ''price-takers'' to ''value-makers''. Key recommendations include fleet management planning; modernisation of public infrastructure, particularly cold storage and ice production at landing centres; mandatory traceability systems; on-board processing and preservation technologies; and stronger integration between fishing vessels and processing industries, it said. Referring to practices in Norway and Iceland, Krishnan said post-harvest losses have been reduced to below 5 per cent in those countries through full traceability, high-value processing, and total utilisation of fish biomass. ''Technological adoption and policy alignment are critical to achieving similar outcomes in India and other Bay of Bengal nations,'' he said.

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