Fisheries governance in the tropical archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar – opinions and strategies for sustainable management

Globally, marine fisheries sector provides livelihood, food security and employment to the fishers engaged in subsistence, artisanal and industrial fishing activities. The dependency on marine fish supplies keeps rising globally leading to intense competition, fishery conflicts and unsustainable fishing practices which threatens the sustainability and leading to the depletion of marine fishery resources. Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) in India is a tropical archipelago cited as an example where marine fishery resources were considered to be highly underutilized vis-a-vis the harvestable potential. Developmental plans often envisage the enormous scope to harness the oceanic fishery resources however, the overriding issues which affect the sustainable fishery management were least understood or addressed. Offshore fisheries were trade and economy based whereas small scale fisheries are livelihood and food security-based, operating with small to medium scale commercial prospects. Radical management approaches in artisanal and industrial fisheries is essential to foster community resilience and sustainable fishery management. The emerging body of evidence suggests the critical need to reliably estimate the fish catches and population dynamics for sustainable fisheries management. Comprehensive opinions on prevailing issues, complexities in governance, challenges faced and the management strategies that need to be adopted were discussed to ensure the robust governance and sustainability of marine fisheries sector.