New Delhi: The Centre on Monday kickstarted the 5th Marine Census operations and launched a mobile application for data collection of 1.2 million fisher households nationwide.
CMFRI, the nodal agency for implementing the marine fisheries census, will capture data from nine coastal states, and the entire census operation will be completed by December 2025.
“Today marks the beginning of the 5th Marine Census operations...,” an official statement said.
The mobile app VyAS-NAV -- launched by Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh at the coastal states fisheries meet in Mumbai -- has been developed by the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) to boost transparency and efficiency.
The village enumeration will be finalised by May-June, while family-level data and other facilities will be covered during November-December. The entire operation will span from April to December.
According to the statement, the VyAS-NAV app will be used by supervisors (staff of CMFRI, Fishery Survey of India and the Fisheries Departments across the coastal states) for field verification of fishing villages, fish landing centres and fishing harbours.
Unlike in the past, customised mobile and tablet-based applications created by CMFRI will be used for data collection to reduce manual errors and accelerate data compilation for policy-level use.
At the coastal states meet, the minister inaugurated and laid the foundation for key projects for seven coastal states and UTs with a total outlay of Rs 255 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
He also awarded the first-ever aqua insurance (One Time Incentive Sanction-cum-Release Order) to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY).
Aquaculture insurance focuses on mitigating risks and extending financial incentives, particularly to small and marginalised farmers.