Fishery Survey of India (FSI) - 1983
In 1983, with the acquisition of the larger survey fleet, the Govt. of India had decided to reorganize and upgrade the organization by adding more survey vessels, strengthening infrastructure facilities and scientific manpower. As a result the Exploratory Fisheries Project (EFP) was renamed as the Fishery Survey of India (FSI) under the aegis of the then Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying).
In 1988, the Institute was declared as a Science and Technology Institute. Consequent to the reorganization, the institute has amplified, enlarged and upgraded. With passing time, the FSI had passed through the administrative control of multiple ministries of Govt. of India viz., Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture and Cooperation), Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare (Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries)
In 2019, Govt. of India has embarked upon the ambitious programme of "Neel Kranti" "Blue Revolution" with the objective of doubling the income of the fisher folks. To achieve this goal Govt. of India has created the new ministry, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (Department of Fisheries) vide Gazette notification no :1763 dated: 14.06.2019.
Presently, the Fishery Survey of India has a fleet of 11 deep sea survey vessels (multifilament Tuna long-liners - 2, monofilament Tuna long-liners - 2 and Stern Trawlers - 7) equipped with the state of the art technology equipment. These vessels are deployed from seven operational Bases viz., Mumbai, Mormugao, Cochin, Porbandar on the west coast and Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Port Blair on the east coast in order to accomplish the mandate of the Institute.
The Institute has thus, emerged as the nodal Fishery Institute in India with the primary responsibility of marine fisheries resources survey, assessment and monitoring in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for promoting sustainable exploitation and management of the fish stocks. The Institute has been generating real time geo-tagged data of marine fishery resources from deep waters to shallow zones of 30m depth for more than 7 decades. In addition to the regular survey projects, research is also carried out to find out the diversified passive fishing methods and gear development for sustainable fishing by reducing by-catch & discard.
Govt. of India has assigned the responsibility of preparing the India's National Report to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) by collecting & compiling the tuna catch data. The Institute also imparts training to the students sponsored by the CIFNET, Kochi on-board survey vessels on tenure basis as part of Human Resource Development programme of the Institute. The FSI has a wide collaboration with several premier national institutes of the country for multiple research & development programmes.
The Institute also been recognized by the University of Mumbai, Andhra University, Goa University, Kochi University of Science & Technology, University of Madras for research leading to Ph.D., & Master's Degree in Science. Scientists of FSI were also recognized by these universities as the research guides for Ph.D., and M.Sc., degree courses.
