National Marine Fisheries Census (NMFC), 2025

Why in news?

Union Minister of State for Fisheries, launched the Marine Fisheries Census (MFC) 2025 Household Enumeration and the VYAS – BHARAT and VYAS- SUTRA app in Kochi.

• 2025 Census – It becomes India’s 1^st fully digitized & Geo-Referenced fisheries census, introducing modern technology and real-time monitoring to collect data from marine fishing communities across the country.
• Aim – To provide comprehensive, accurate, and timely data essential for the sustainable development and governance of the sector, which supports over a million families.
• Launched on – World Fisheries Day on November 21, 2024, set to be completed by December 2025.
• Funded by the – Department of Fisheries, Government of India.
• Nodal agency – ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI).
• Operational partner – Fishery Survey of India (FSI).
• MFC 2025’s slogan – ‘Smart Census, Smarter Fisheries’.
• Tenure – The 45-day nationwide enumeration will be conducted from November 3 to December 18.
• Coverage – Over 1.2 million fisher households across 4,000 marine fishing villages in 9 coastal States and 4 union territories.

Features

• Digital Architecture – A custom-built, multilingual apps was launched -
  • VyAS–NAV (for validation of fishing villages and harbours),
  • VyAS–BHARAT (household and infrastructure enumeration) and
  • VyAS–SUTRA (for real-time supervision and monitoring of households and enumerators).
• Efficiency & Accuracy – Enables real-time, geo-referenced data collection, eliminating manual errors and significantly accelerating data processing.
• Supervision & Oversight – The entire operation is monitored through multi-tier web dashboards & a supervisory app, ensuring progress tracking across all levels of census management.
• Expanded Socio-economic Data – For the 1^st time, the it includes detailed information on indicators like total family income, homeownership, outstanding liabilities, sources of credit, etc.
• Granular Data for Targeted Welfare – It aims to gain a detailed understanding of the coastal population’s socio-economic conditions to help design more targeted and effective government interventions.
• Focus on Vulnerability – It will collect key information on fisher families’ insurance coverage, pandemic-related hardships, and access to government support schemes like
  • Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana and
  • Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana.
• Institutional Mapping – New schedules focusing on Fish Farmer Producer Organizations (FFPOs) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are introduced to facilitate collectivization and strengthen the value chain.

Reference

PIB | Marine Fisheries Census 2025 Goes Fully Digital