Navigating Success: The Impact of Fishery Co-operatives on Weaker Sections

India is home to one of the world’s largest fishing industries, with over 14 million people involved in fishing and aquaculture. Yet for most of these individuals – the small-scale fishermen who cast their nets in coastal waters and inland rivers – life has historically meant poverty, debt, and exploitation at the hands of middlemen. Fishery cooperatives were built as a direct answer to this reality. They are not just economic institutions; they are protective shields for one of India’s most economically vulnerable communities.

Who are fishermen in India’s socio-economic landscape? 🔗

Fishing communities in India occupy one of the lowest rungs in the socio-economic hierarchy. Small-scale fishermen predominantly live in scattered coastal villages and typically belong to disadvantaged castes, suffering from illiteracy, poverty, and limited access to technology. Fisherwomen face an even steeper social barrier – often excluded from decision-making and confined to post-harvest activities like drying and curing fish.

The economic trap is particularly vicious. Without access to institutional credit, fishermen depend on moneylenders and traders who double as middlemen. These middlemen control pricing, advance loans at exploitative rates, and then recover their money by buying fish at prices far below market value. This cycle of exploitation is further worsened by lack of infrastructure and government support, leaving fishermen perpetually unable to break free on their own.

What is a fishery cooperative? 🔗

A fishery cooperative is a member-owned organisation where fishermen pool their resources and efforts to collectively manage production, marketing, and welfare activities. A fishery cooperative can function as a marketing cooperative that pools resources for the sale of marine products, or as a supply cooperative involved in raising fish eggs, sharing a fish farm, or operating a larger fishing vessel.

In India, fishery cooperatives were first formally encouraged through the efforts of Sir Frederic Nicholson, the Director of Fisheries in the former Madras provinces. It was only after the Five Year Plans began that the real importance of these cooperatives was recognised, with the cooperative model adopted as the primary vehicle for developing the fishing industry and improving fishermen’s standards of living.

The very first fishermen’s cooperative society in India – the Karla Machhimar Co-operative Society – was established in Maharashtra in 1913. West Bengal followed in 1918. However, growth was painfully slow: by 1944, there were barely 200 fishery cooperatives across the entire country, and these were mostly credit societies focused narrowly on providing loans, without any vision for processing or marketing.

The three-tier structure of fishery cooperatives 🔗

Today, India’s fishery cooperative system is organised in a clear hierarchy that links the village-level fisherman to national-level policy and trade.

Primary fishery cooperative societies (PFCS) 🔗

These are the grassroots-level organisations operating at the village or panchayat level. They handle day-to-day activities – collecting the catch from members, providing basic credit, supplying fishing inputs like nets and fuel, and organising the initial sale of fish. They are the most direct point of contact between the cooperative system and the individual fisherman.

District and state-level federations 🔗

These intermediate bodies coordinate activities across multiple primary societies. They provide technical support, manage cold storage and transport logistics, and link primary cooperatives to larger markets. Gujarat Fisheries Central Co-operative Association (GFCCA), for instance, functions as the apex cooperative body for fishermen in Gujarat and has been operational since 1956 with state government support.

FISHCOPFED – the national apex body 🔗

FISHCOPFED – the National Federation of Fishermen’s Cooperatives – was established in 1980 and currently unites 83 member institutions including state and district-level federations. Operating under the Ministry of Agriculture, it provides coordination, technical assistance, training, and commercial support to India’s fishing cooperatives. Its activities span three broad categories: developmental, welfare, and commercial. FISHCOPFED is also a member of the International Cooperative Fisheries Organisation (ICFO) and represents India’s cooperative fishing movement at the global level.

Today, India has 14,620 primary fishery cooperatives with 2.2 million fisher members – a significant organisational achievement, even if coverage remains incomplete.

Key functions: how fishery cooperatives protect and empower fishermen 🔗

Breaking the middleman chain 🔗

Cooperatives serve as suppliers of material and non-material resources – including livelihood equipment, credit support, beach-level fish auctions, and awareness creation – helping fishermen cope with the exploitation they face in their daily lives. By collectively marketing their catch, cooperative members bypass private traders and negotiate directly with buyers. Studies show that cooperatives have helped achieve 30-40% increases in fishermen’s earnings simply by eliminating the middleman layer.

Access to credit and financial support 🔗

Fishery cooperatives enable members to access financial and technical assistance to increase their catch and gain bargaining power for securing better prices. Through tie-ups with banks and the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), cooperatives help members get loans at institutional rates – far below what moneylenders charge – for purchasing boats, engines, nets, and other equipment.

Insurance and welfare coverage 🔗

One of FISHCOPFED’s most impactful contributions is the Centrally Sponsored Group Accident Insurance Scheme. Over 46.74 lakh fishers are currently covered under the scheme across 24 states and four Union Territories. This provides compensation for death, total disability, or partial disability – giving fishermen and their families a basic safety net that simply did not exist before cooperatives organised them at scale.

Harvesting, aquaculture, and resource cultivation 🔗

Cooperatives do not just market fish – they actively support fish production. FISHCOPFED operates demonstration fish culture projects in Assam, using the latest aquaculture technology, with produce marketed through cooperative members. At the primary level, cooperatives help members access better fishing vessels, motorised boats on credit, ice plants, cold storage, and canning units – all of which were previously inaccessible to individual fishermen due to cost.

Marketing and value chain development 🔗

Cooperatives facilitate the movement of fish from coastal areas to marketing centres, making fish available to consumers at reasonable prices. FISHCOPFED has also established retail fish shops to supply bulk quantities to hotels and regular consumers, and assists cooperatives in inter-state fish sales and exports to international markets.

Empowering fisherwomen 🔗

Women in fishing communities were historically excluded from the formal economy. Fishery cooperatives have started to change this. Institutions like VAMNICOM have conducted dedicated training programmes for women cooperative members from weaker sections, focusing on sustainable technologies, fish value chain development, and the strengthening of Fishermen Women Cooperative Societies. FISHCOPFED has also implemented a fish drying project in coastal states specifically to generate income for fisherwomen.

India’s fisheries sector: the national picture 🔗

The scale of India’s fishing industry makes the role of cooperatives even more critical. India was the world’s second-largest fish producer and the sixth-largest marine fishing nation in 2019, with the fisheries sector contributing approximately 1% of the country’s GDP and employing over 28 million people in the primary sector.

Fisheries contributed Rs. 1,28,011 crore to India’s Gross Value Addition in 2018-19 – a 179% increase since 2012-13. Yet without organised cooperatives, a large portion of this value would simply be captured by private traders rather than reaching the fishermen who generate it.

Government policy support: the push for Blue Revolution 🔗

Recognising the sector’s potential, the Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) in 2020 with a total investment of Rs. 20,050 crore, aimed at sustainable and responsible development of the fisheries sector – what the government calls the “Blue Revolution.” The scheme directly supports fisheries cooperatives, SHGs, and individual fishermen, with enhanced financial assistance for SC/ST and women beneficiaries.

PMMSY targets an increase in fish production to 22 million metric tons by 2024-25, aims to double export earnings to Rs. 1,00,000 crore, and seeks to create about 55 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities in the sector. For fishery cooperatives, the scheme offers support for infrastructure like boat repair centres, cold chains, canning units, and marketing linkages – exactly the inputs that small-scale cooperatives need but cannot afford alone.

Challenges that remain 🔗

Despite decades of effort, fishery cooperatives in India still face serious structural challenges. Regional imbalances persist – some cooperatives thrive under active government support while many others struggle with lack of loans, weak infrastructure, poor management, and continued interference by middlemen in marketing.

Climate change is an added pressure. Rising sea temperatures, depleting marine resources, and increasing frequency of cyclones directly threaten the livelihoods of coastal fishing communities. Industrial fishing vessels encroach on the waters where small-scale fishermen operate, and cooperatives often lack the legal and financial muscle to push back. The Marine Fishing Regulation Act exists to protect traditional fishermen in territorial waters, but enforcement remains inconsistent.

There is also the issue of limited member participation. In many cooperatives, political interference, unequal power structures, and pre-set eligibility conditions restrict genuine democratic functioning – the very principle on which cooperatives are supposed to be founded.

The road ahead: sustainable and inclusive fisheries 🔗

The future of fishery cooperatives lies in modernisation without losing their social mission. Efforts to introduce sustainable technologies in fishery cooperative management – from improved fish preservation and processing to integrated value chain development – represent a practical path forward. Digital platforms, e-commerce linkages, and improved cold chain infrastructure can collectively reduce post-harvest losses, which currently run as high as 20-25% nationally.

There is also growing recognition that gender inclusion is not optional – it is essential. Strengthening fisherwomen’s cooperatives and producer organisations would not only improve household incomes but also bring a more sustainable, community-rooted approach to managing marine and inland resources.

Fishery cooperatives, at their best, are not just economic units – they represent collective dignity for communities who have historically been denied access to markets, credit, and policy. The 14,620 primary cooperatives functioning across India today are proof that the model works. The challenge now is making it work equitably, sustainably, and at the scale that India’s fishermen truly need.

What do you think? Given that fishery cooperatives have demonstrably improved incomes and reduced exploitation, why do you think their coverage still extends to only about 21% of active fishermen in India? And should the legal framework around marine fishing regulations be strengthened to specifically protect cooperative members from industrial fishing encroachment?

References

1. https://stories.coop/uniting-india%C2%92s-fishing-cooperatives/
2. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/02a703ba-64fc-479d-b847-11a995cb994e/content
3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272182662_Functioning_of_Fishing_Cooperative_Societies_in_Selected_States_of_India
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishery_cooperative
5. http://ecoursesonline.iasri.res.in/mod/page/view.php?id=46184
6. https://www.india.gov.in/topics/agriculture/fisheries
7. https://www.fishcopfed.coop/contents/anoverview
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X22004201
9. https://www.icsf.net/newss/india-vamnicom-aims-to-modernize-fish-co-ops-with-sustainable-technologies/
10. https://www.academia.edu/49237583/Sustainable_management_of_fishermen_co_operative_societies_in_India_A_review
11. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=152138&ModuleId=3
12. https://cleartax.in/s/pradhan-mantri-matsya-sampada-yojana