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Being the world's sixth-largest producer of captured fish, India has high stakes in the global marine fisheries sector. The sector contributes to India’s economy in multiple ways by augmenting food and nutritional security, supporting livelihood, generating employment, and aiding in gender equity. Fish landings in India have grown at an average annual rate of about 3 percent between 1960 and 2022, estimated to be 3.53 million tonnes (Mt) in 2023. Marine fisheries productively engage nearly 1 million active fisherfolk, a significant proportion of which are small-scale and resource-poor, operating at subsistence levels. Among the various economically important segments of India’s marine fisheries, the fishery of tuna and tuna-like species hold significance due to their livelihood potential, especially in the island territories, and their contribution to foreign exchange earnings. India’s National Policy on Marine Fisheries, 2017 clearly states the intent of the Government of India to focus on sustainable exploitation and development of value chains for deep sea and oceanic resources such as tuna and tuna-like species, owing to their future potential. However, this would require technical upgrading of the tuna fishing fleet, skilling the fishers, and other value chain functionaries for efficient handling of the harvested fish, besides equipping the post-harvest industry to match the emerging requirements of the domestic and overseas markets. Moreover, there is a need to align India’s tuna fishery in line with the shared governance frameworks of global institutions such as the IOTC. Against this backdrop, this paper presents an overview of the present status of tuna fishery in India, analyses its social and economic contribution to the marine fisheries economy, and explores the dynamics associated with the tuna value chains in recent times. Special emphasis is given to identifying and exploring appropriate and robust metrics and indicators to assess the social and economic dynamics of tuna fisheries in India. The paper also tries to suggest suitable approaches to analyze the social and economic implications associated with some of the recommended conservation and sustainable management measures.
