Marine Fisheries Census 2025: India’s First Fully Digital Census to Empower Coastal Communities

The Marine Fisheries Census (MFC) 2025 marks a historic digital milestone in India’s fisheries sector. Launched by Union Minister of State Shri George Kurian in Kochi, the census introduces a fully digital, paperless, and geo-referenced data system to capture the most comprehensive picture ever of India’s marine fisheries landscape.

The MFC-2025, themed “Smart Census, Smarter Fisheries”, will transform the way India plans, monitors, and manages its marine resources — ensuring that policies for fisherfolk welfare are data-driven, inclusive, and transparent.

Key Highlights of Marine Fisheries Census 2025

Digital Transformation: VYAS Apps Lead the Way

The MFC-2025 introduces a suite of multilingual Android applications called the VYAS ecosystem, developed by the ICAR–CMFRI, enabling real-time, paperless data collection and supervision.

VyAS–NAV:

Validates fishing villages, harbours, and landing centres using GPS mapping.

VyAS–BHARAT:

Conducts household and infrastructure enumeration, capturing detailed socio-economic indicators.

VyAS–SUTRA:

Supervises the census operation, allowing real-time monitoring and performance tracking of enumerators.

Together, these apps ensure accurate, geo-referenced data, eliminate manual errors, and enable instant analytics through central dashboards — a major leap for fisheries governance.

Drone Integration: Ensuring Accuracy and Transparency

For the first time, the Marine Fisheries Census will use drone-based aerial enumeration to count fishing crafts and verify infrastructure data.

Drones are deployed at major harbours and landing centres to provide neutral, verifiable evidence during trawl ban periods.

Drone Coverage Locations

• East Coast: Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Tuticorin

• West Coast: Mangaluru, Beypore, Puthiyappa

This hybrid approach — combining drone imagery with digital ground data — enhances data reliability and transparency in marine craft enumeration.

Scope and Coverage

MFC-2025 is a nationwide census covering:

• 1.2 million fisher households

• 5,000 coastal villages and habitations

• 1,200+ landing centres

• 50 major fishing harbours and jetties

• Markets and processing plants across 13 coastal States and Union Territories, including Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep

It builds on earlier censuses (2005, 2010, 2016) but introduces real-time, digital workflows and socio-economic granularity never achieved before.

Expanded Socio-Economic Data Collection

MFC-2025 expands data collection beyond traditional fisheries parameters to include:

• Family income and employment patterns

• Ownership of houses, boats, and equipment

• Credit sources and outstanding loans

• Insurance and disaster vulnerability status

• Impact of COVID-19 on fisher families

• Access to government schemes such as PM Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and PM-MKSSY

• Membership in Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs)

This ensures evidence-based targeting of welfare schemes, subsidies, and coastal livelihood programs.

Institutional Mapping for Empowerment

New schedules under MFC-2025 include:

• Mapping of Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs)

• Recording of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and cooperatives

• Identifying women and youth engaged in value addition, processing, and marketing

This will help the government design entrepreneurship and skill-building programs for the next generation of fishers.

NFDP Portal: Single-Window for Fisher Registration

During the launch, Shri George Kurian urged fishermen and fish farmers to register on the National Fisheries Digital Platform (NFDP Portal).

This digital integration will:

• Enable fishers to receive government benefits directly

• Facilitate e-governance in welfare delivery

• Support traceability, certification, and licensing

Objectives of the Marine Fisheries Census 2025

1. Create a comprehensive, geo-referenced national fisheries database

2. Facilitate evidence-based planning and policy formulation

3. Assess the socio-economic status of fisher households

4. Enhance efficiency and transparency through technology

5. Support implementation of government welfare schemes like PMMSY

6. Promote inclusive growth by empowering women, youth, and marginalized fisherfolk

Significance of MFC-2025

• Smart Governance: Enables digital, real-time policy decisions

• Fisherfolk Welfare: Allows accurate targeting of financial and insurance benefits

• Sustainability: Helps design climate-resilient fisheries programs

• Transparency: Uses drones and GPS-tagged data to prevent duplication or fraud

• Economic Planning: Provides reliable data for export strategies, coastal zoning, and marine infrastructure

Preparations and Oversight

• Extensive pre-census workshops and coastal state coordination meets held.

• Multi-level monitoring through central web dashboards ensures accountability.

• The Department of Fisheries and ICAR–CMFRI have set up a National Workshop on Digital Census Operations to finalize operational strategies.

Expected Outcomes

By mid-2026, the MFC-2025 will deliver:

• A nationally integrated database of fishers, vessels, and landing sites

• Comprehensive socio-economic mapping of India’s 8,118-km coastline

• A foundation for digital ID systems for fishermen

• Inputs for PMMSY and coastal development schemes

• Data insights for climate-resilient and sustainable fisheries policy

Conclusion

The Marine Fisheries Census 2025 is not just a data exercise — it is a digital revolution in India’s blue economy.
By adopting geo-referenced, paperless, and real-time enumeration, India is setting new benchmarks for data-driven, inclusive, and sustainable fisheries management.

MFC-2025 will empower coastal communities, promote entrepreneurship, and ensure that India’s fisheries sector continues to thrive — smarter, stronger, and more sustainable than ever before.

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